Driver’s Education is a Skill not a Mindset

All around the US students are celebrating their 15th or 16th birthday with a trip to the local BMV, mail in hand in exchange for an hours sheet. Some students take the path of learning how to drive with their parents and going through to fill out the hours while others choose the taught class. Driver’s education is a skill that can both be taught by a parent or a teacher, however the large difference between the two is that parents don’t always teach you the laws. Drivers Ed is a course that varies between online supplemental information and behind-the-wheel classes. Having a licensed professional in the car with a learning student is key in keeping the roads safe for the future drivers. Most motor vehicle deaths are caused by drivers under the influences or ones who are speeding. In Drivers Ed it is a main point of the teacher to explain to students the real life consequences of their actions when behind the wheel. Pulling up statistics and graphs showing how DUI’s are more common in youth and how driving while inebriated can cause not only harm to yourself but to an innocent bystander. One way to make the roads safer and have better informed drivers on the streets would be having states mandate that everyone must take and pass a drivers education class before getting a license. However, teaching a new generation the rights and wrongs of driving will not halt the actions of the older generations on the roads, adding in a bi-yearly drivers test for people over the age of 50 could help lead to fewer vehicle deaths.

I have personally been in two car wrecks in my life, once in mothers car and the other in my fathers. In the first accident we were passing through a green light in our small town when an old woman decided it would be wise to blow through the red light she had. She hit the rear of the car we were sent into a light pole, no one was majorly hurt, the old woman may have had a concussion from hitting us though. It was one of those moments when everything is silent and then people are yelling, it’s frightening and we were lucky that no one got hurt. Going back to my previous statement the crash could have been avoided if the woman had been given a re-examination on her drivers test. Clearly running a red light would have kept her off the road till the next available time slot was open. The second crash was no one’s fault but our own. We were heading to an orthodontist appointment and nearly missed the turn. My dad tried to cross four lanes of traffic to the turn lane and missed the small suv coming towards him. Once again it was not a bad crash, going barely over 15 mph, the driver’s side door was dented and the step was falling off. The women’s car was dented and scratched on the front fender and my dad apologized and they went through calling their insurance companies, my dad owning up to the accident being his fault. The crash could have been avoided if my Dad had continued checking his mirrors while trying to merge over or if we had driven the 5 miles up to the next light to turn around.

In life I learned that it’s unpredictable. You are taught to always watch out for other drivers but also keep all of your attention on the road. I can expect the worst in every driver I see but that still wouldn’t stop an accident. I might be able to avoid it but avoidance is not a hundred percent surety of not being hit. If I am focusing on the car who is hugging the middle line in front of me, how can I avoid the person speeding behind me who rear-ends me? My attention can only be drawn in so many directions until it loses its function. That is why when I drive I focus on what is important, my speed, the distance in front of me, and the direction I am going. Living in a city home to hundreds of round-a-bouts I must plan ahead of time on which lane will take me in the correct direction. Merging over before my turn comes is the top priority but can be missed since the next round-a-bout will just take me back to the first one. Always watching my speed to make sure I am staying within the legal limit in the city or keeping up with the flow of traffic on the highway is key. I don’t make a fuss over merging out of the lane to let the people who are speeding pass me. Because someone who’s decided on speeding already doesn’t care what happens to the people around them as long as they get to where they want to go. That is why driver’s education is important. It teaches you the fundamentals of being a good and safe driver in a world of reckless drivers.