Driver Education: Chose To Follow It

“Mom. If you need to send a text, let me send it.” I told my mom as she was trying to send a text while we were flying down the highway. Although my mom is a grown woman, she is still a human. Which means she is bound to still make mistakes like everyone. Even myself. But despite all of these trials, we must truly understand our roles as drivers. How serious our choices become when we are behind the wheel. In situations that happen before we can drive and while we are on the road.

I’m sure everyone remembers the bore of having to go through the learning stage of driving. And I don’t mean behind the wheel. The classroom part. Having to learn all of the signs and figuring out who got to turn first. Despite it being boring, it plays an important role when reducing the number of deaths caused by driving. Knowing the many different signs and what to do in certain situations can help a driver make the safest decision. As well as making a driver feel accountable if they make the wrong decision because they can’t use the excuse they didn’t know. You went to driving school to learn these things, so it may deter people from using any excuses and taking accountability. Also, the most memorable part of driving school was showing the graphic photos of car crashes of people who chose to make the wrong decisions. The scare factor from seeing these images can make people think before they make a hasty decision. They’re more likely to pause and think before they act, remembering what could happen.

While driving school can be the first line of defense to reduce reckless decisions, more actions can be done outside of drivers to reduce deaths from driving. The biggest change being that cops stop letting all levels of drivers off the hook with a warning from “small” offensives. In doing so, for example, if I heard most of my friends were getting traffic tickets for texting on their phones or not using their blinkers, it would make me more weary of my driving habits. It would make me take steps to stop these habits completely to not get a ticket and in the long run, it would make the road just a little more safe. Also, cars could have built in features that can detect when a person is distracted. This can include a camera that detects when the driver’s eyes leave the road causing the car to start to slow down or begin beeping and repeat “pay attention to the road.” until they abide by the rules. Both of which can directly help to reduce the number of deaths related to reckless driving.

Personally, I have had my own share of seeing my friends and family driving unsafely ranging from simply looking over at me, to attempting to text someone because they forgot. Resuming the dialogue from the beginning, my mom was trying to text a friend of hers something important because she forgot to do so before we left. I noticed she was texting on her phone. I commented and took the phone from her hand and simply told her, “Tell me what you need to send so bad. You keep your eyes on the road.” I felt a bit scared and ashamed that she was texting and driving although she was a grown woman. This made me realize that no matter how old I get, people will still make bad decisions while driving. Which encourages me to create safe driving habits now in hopes they’ll stay with me as an adult.

The habits that I have begun to work on all revolve around improving myself as a driver. Not trying to control those around us. The most important being always trying to drive defensively. By observing my surroundings and the actions of other drivers will allow me to have better reaction times to any abrupt movements and react in the safest way possible. In addition to this, I would ensure to always follow the rules of the road to the best of my abilities to ensure safe travels. This means I will stop at stop signs and slow down when I see a yellow light. In doing so, I protect myself against the chance if someone runs their light, because I stopped, I avoided that crash. The biggest thing I will work on is stopping my own dangerous driving habits. For example, I have the bad habit of multitasking, so to offset this, before I begin my drive, I’ll be sure all tasks that need to be done are done before driving. By doing so, I increase the chance I’ll pay attention to the road, and not on anything else.

All parts of driving should be taken seriously. Whether you are a driver in a car. A new driver or old. All drivers have the same responsibilities to keep themselves and each other safe because these dangerous crashes only take a few seconds. Don’t become another statistic.