The Importance of Driver Education

Driving is a privilege that comes with a great deal of risk. When a person sits in the driver’s seat, a majority of people would set their focus almost entirely on arriving at their destination. However, what many other drivers, including myself in the past, fail to consider is the significant influence that we have over other people’s lives when we take the wheel. Even the slightest oversight could lead to severe injuries for everyone involved, or worse, death. Throughout this essay, I will explain the importance of driver education in reducing casualties, steps that can be taken to become safer drivers, as well as my own personal experiences with driving.

Proper driving education is an extremely important factor in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving. This education helps you learn how to follow traffic laws, which decreases the chance of an accident. Driving education teaches the meaning of street signs and the way that you are expected to drive based on your current surroundings. For example, street signs could inform you of whether you’re supposed to stop and yield to other cars, how fast you should be driving, and whether you’re allowed to make certain turns. It also helps inform you about how to react in situations such as a broken traffic light, in which you should treat the intersection as if there was a stop sign on all four sides. Many people wouldn’t know the proper course of action in these situations if not for proper driving education. Additionally, driver education discourages and explains the effects of common mistakes such as using your phone while driving. These rules were put into place and taught to new drivers in order to ensure the safety of not only people in cars, but also pedestrians, as they would suffer the most severe injuries in case of a collision. Failing to abide by these traffic laws leaves you with a drastically increased risk of an accident.

For example, my grandma was involved in a serious collision when I was only a child. Due to wearing a seatbelt, she only suffered moderate injuries, but still needed to visit a chiropractor regularly as a result. Fortunately, she made a full recovery after some time. This experience taught me an important lesson, that wearing a seatbelt could mean the difference between life and death. After seeing the impact that a simple procedure could have on your life, my perspective on the significance of driver safety had changed completely. Additionally, I’ve also seen my family members driving irresponsibly, primarily to save time when they are at risk of being late to school or work. Speeding, not using seatbelts, and texting while driving are only a few examples of unsafe driving I have witnessed from my family. Ever since I started driving, I have always reminded my family and friends to use their seatbelts whenever they forget to, no matter how short the drive is. Because safety should be prioritized when you are in a car.

There are a number of steps we can take to reduce the amount of driving-related deaths. For example, an increase in the age requirement for a driver’s license would greatly contribute to a lower number of accidents while driving, as studies have shown that younger drivers typically are more likely to make mistakes while driving and end up crashing. Another necessary step would be having a heavier emphasis on using seatbelts alongside avoiding activities such as texting while driving and driving under the influence. This would highlight how dangerous it is to drive without proper preparation and focus, therefore discouraging people from doing these things. My final recommendation for reducing driving-related casualties is making the punishment for traffic violations harsher, in the form of increased fines, or even extra jail time depending on the severity of the situation. This would encourage drivers to focus more on safety over anything else, which is ideal for drivers. All of these factors serve as great ways to promote safer driving, helping to reduce deaths that come from it. But this isn’t the only way to help make driving safer, you as an individual can also contribute to this cause! And there are a number of ways to do that, namely checking extra carefully for pedestrians attempting to cross the street in the direction perpendicular to you before advancing through an intersection, making sure to always check your rearview mirrors and blind spots when changing lanes, and keeping a safe distance away from the car in front of you. Because following these procedures allows everyone to drive in a safer environment, as safety should always be the number one priority.