The Importance of Further Driver Education

While driving is often seen as a mundane, every day activity for many people in the United States, it is an inherently risky one. With millions of people on the road, it is almost inevitable that there will be collisions, and deaths as a result of some of those collisions. I believe that many drivers forget the large responsibility that they take on when they get behind the wheel of a car, which is to drive in a manner that keeps themselves and everyone around them safe. I also believe that further training and education prior to obtaining a driver’s license would help to reduce traffic accidents and deaths significantly.

In 2022, I was involved in a pretty bad accident that totaled my car, but I was practically unharmed thanks to the safety features of my car. The other driver failed to yield right-of-way to me by turning left in front of me, and being unable to see them until it was too late, I had no time to stop and hit the side of their car at around forty miles per hour. Despite being uninjured, the whole experience was traumatic, but also eye-opening to how quickly things can happen. Even before I could drive, my parents always taught me to drive defensively and do my best to anticipate other peoples’ moves, but clearly, that doesn’t always work. In a different reality, where the U.S.had more stringent education and training requirements to obtain a driver’s license, that accident may have never occurred; the other party could have made a better decision on when to make their turn.

Another perspective of the risks of driving comes from motorcycle riders, myself included. Riding a motorcycle in the United States comes with a substantially higher risk of death or serious injury, which is largely due to the lack of protection riders have, but also partly due to minimal driver education, especially surrounding motorcycles. Riders who take a motorcycle safety course are taught to ride as if they are invisible to everyone around them, which is definitely a good way to ride. However, despite there being a very small percentage of people who ride motorcycles, there should be significantly more driver’s education relating to motorcyclists so that their safety isn’t a “one way street,” so to speak. Personally, I have been in many situations where I could have been seriously injured or even killed while out on my motorcycle; people not checking their blind spots and attempting to change lanes into me, running stop signs, almost being rear ended, etc. Some extra driver education regarding motorcyclists could save many of their lives in the future, and make it significantly less risky to go out for a ride.

In California, the requirements to obtain a license are minimal; you complete driver education, obtain a driver’s permit, complete six hours of professional driver training, and drive for 50 hours with a licensed adult for a minimum of 6 months. After those six months, if you pass a basic driving test through the DMV, you have a practically unrestricted license. From personal experience, these processes are pretty surface-level, and do not truly instill good driving habits into drivers, especially young ones. I believe this is a large factor in the high amount of traffic deaths the United States experiences despite having many traffic laws and regulations. For example, Germany has much stricter requirements to obtain a driver’s license, which include multiple driver training classes and tests, rather than online learning at home. Comparing the two countries, Germany has 3.7 deaths per 100,000 people per year on average, while the United States has 12.9 deaths per 100,000 people per year on average. Using Germany as an example, adding more driver’s education and training as requirements to obtain a license could help significantly reduce traffic-related deaths in the United States. On top of this, making driver’s education part of school curriculum will help any new, young drivers learn how to drive in a safe manner and understand the responsibility that they carry when they drive.

Over the years that I have been driving, I have developed a few good habits to keep, and also noticed some bad habits that need to be stopped. One of the best habits that I have while I drive is keeping a sort of space bubble around my vehicle; that is, not following too closely to the car in front of me, staying out of other people’s blind spots, and letting tailgaters go by. I believe that this habit alone has saved me from a few accidents. Another good habit to be in has to do with intersections: when I’m sitting at a light and it turns green, I always wait a couple extra seconds just in case someone decides to run it. One habit that I definitely should eliminate is speeding; it has become a habit to drive five over the speed limit, which can be pretty unsafe on some roads. I believe that this is a habit that many other drivers have, and has become a sort of norm especially in California.

In conclusion, our driver’s education and training systems in the United States have a lot of room for improvement. On top of this, drivers need to take the seemingly mundane action of driving more seriously considering the risks involved. Having a country full of drivers with good driving instincts and habits will make for much safer roads, and fewer traffic accidents and deaths.