Safety In All Vehicles

Driver’s education is extremely important as it help’s teach kids the basics of driving as well as hands on driving experience. All drivers should have to go through this course. The in person driving lessons were important to me as this allowed me to show someone other than my parents what I had learned and allowed me to get valuable feedback on my driving.

There are several things that can be done to help reduce the number of deaths as a result of driving. Defensive driving is one of these things as a lot of accidents occur because of other people, not necessarily your own driving. Defensive driving helps teach you to be aware of everything around you, not just the car or two in front. A driver needs to be aware of cars coming up from behind, merging lanes, and brake lights. You need to be able to handle any situation. I have seen cars speeding and cutting other drivers off too many times. This can cause an accident just because the car who was cut off could have swerved and hit another car to avoid the car cutting them off. I also think being more respectful of semis is important. I don’t think kids understand how hard it is for a semi to stop. If you cut one off and everyone is stopping ahead of you the semi might not have room/time to stop. I know it’s not fun to be stuck behind a semi but allowing them to merge into traffic and giving them the space they need is critical. A driver also needs to realize that semis have a much larger blind spot than cars. You should never drive on the side of a semi and just stay there if you can avoid it. Kids also need to understand how to drive in different weather and what to do if they go into a spin. I don’t think this is covered as well as it should be. I realize not everyone lives where there could be ice or snow but they should at least understand how to drive in these conditions theoretically. Young drivers need to understand you cannot do a hard brake on wet roads and that you need to slow down slowly. Having hands free devices also definitely helps reduce distractions.

I was not in a car accident but I was in a major golf cart accident where I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The driver of the golf cart was driving too fast and then lost control and the golf cart flipped. The driver was a newer driver and we had 4 friends in the golf cart. This led to the driver not paying as much attention to her driving as she should have. As we were starting to go down a hill the driver realized she was going too fast. Instead of slowing down slowly she slammed on the brakes which caused the golf cart to flip. Since there are no seat belts in the front for golf carts I went flying out as I was in the passenger seat and ended up with major road rash over 60% of my body. Out of the four passengers, driver included, three of us had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance. I don’t think any of us realized that a golf cart could even flip. This experience was definitely used as a learning topic for a lot of my friends since I live in a golf cart community. A lot of parents talked with their kids about driving golf carts safely and watching how fast you are going when going down hill or around curves. The driver needs to know where the weight is and take that into account as well.

I think passengers play a big part in drivers being safe as well. Passengers should do their best to not distract the driver and be respectful. Loud music, tik-tok’s, and talking can all be huge distractions, especially for young drivers. Personally, I will work on staying focused while I drive and only using hands free devices. I will also keep working on my defensive driving. My parents always remind me of this one. As a passenger I will strive to not distract the driver but help watch the road with them. This could also include helping with changing the radio station or finding music so that the driver doesn’t do this. I will also try to stop doing tik-toks in the car, even though I am a passenger. This way the driver doesn’t feel left out or not pay attention to the road as they are watching what’s happening in the car.