The Risks of Driving

Life is about calculated risks. Most people don’t realize that when they are making choices they are really choosing between the consequences of their options. Drivers do not realize the constant risks while being behind the wheel. They do not realize the dangers of trusting other drivers on the road. There is nothing more urgent than staying alive. Roads in America do not promise this.

Our beautiful country runs on the use of cars for transportation. The driving culture we have built in America is that at the ripe age of sixteen you finally gain true freedom. America has done what is right by mandating a drivers education course. This allows for the millions of young teen brains to be reprogrammed after learning from bad habits that passengers pick up. Driver’s education allows for adolescents to be taught the right way.

After personally taking the drivers course mandated in my state within the last year, I can truly say how beneficial the behind-the-wheel program is. Young teens view the online course as just another school assignment that has to get turned in. Behind-the-wheel creates a safe environment that allows the students to learn through failure, which is arguably the most memorable pathway to learning. By having an adult in the car the students feel safe to ask questions but also get critiqued as they are learning how to drive. The behind-the-wheel course helps cultivate the drivers that are being sent onto the streets of America.

One thing I think would benefit drivers is sharing the stories of people who have been impacted from deaths by car accidents. Telling people what is right and wrong is never enough, you need to add emoticons to these directions that will give it meaning in the eyes of the youth. Young drivers need to be told about the consequences that come with the power of driving. This needs to be done by sharing the stories of survivors by adding in-person seminars to drivers education. This will not only carry heavy emotion of importance to youth drivers but also show the seriousness of behind the wheel risks.

The second thing I believe would help reduce the amount of car accidents would be to put young drivers through a virtual reality car accident. By putting a new driver through a fake car accident, we would hope that the new drivers learn the severity and life changing effects that reckless driving can have. Along with the virtual reality, the teacher would stress the feelings they experienced during the virtual reality are nowhere near the consequences of being in/related to a death by car accident.

The final thing that would be beneficial to the decrease of deaths by car accidents would be that with the renewal of licenses, the driver would have to go through another short course about the risks associated with driving. After so many years of having your driver’s license, driving seems as effortless as the sun rising in the morning. Older drivers need to be reminded of the seriousness that comes with driving. By having another mandated short course of the risks associated with driving, I believe it would help remind older drivers to be more careful behind the wheel.

I am a very cautious driver. I know that every time I am behind the wheel every decision I make could end in the death of myself, anyone in the car, or the people around me. I prefer to bear the responsibility of driving myself or friends compared to a more reckless driver putting my friends at risk. I will never leave a parking spot without yelling, “Is everyone buckled?” knowing that the buckles in cars can make the difference between life or death in car accidents. When making judgment calls while driving, I remind myself that it is always better to be safe than dead. There is nothing more urgent than staying alive.

Living in a small town everybody knows everybody. This was especially true when we lost two siblings who were high school graduates at the age of nineteen and twenty, only four years ago in a car accident. They both had created legacies in our community through coaching and mentoring to the students after they graduated high school. My older sister Julia, was really close to the younger sibling, Dany. Dany mentored my sister who was a young teen trying to come out of her shell. Dany poured confidence into Julia, always sending her gifts and messages of encouragement. It was heartbreaking to see the damage that Dany’s death brought to her caused by reckless driving of an adult.

Driver’s education is paramount to the safety on our roads. Young drivers need to be taught the right way to drive through online courses. Drivers of all ages need to hear the stories from the victims of car accidents. By adding emotions into drivers education we would hope that it reflects the reality of daily risks that driving has. Split second decisions are the difference between life and death on the road. There is nothing more urgent than staying alive, drivers of all ages need to be conscious of that.