More Education, Less Elimination

Hello, I’m from Las Vegas, NV. Here in Las Vegas when traffic is heavy especially if you live closer to the casinos or freeways, driver education can be a tremendous help in declining accidents. I recently started driving by myself as I received my license in August of this year, and already I’ve seen at least a dozen accidents while going to and from school. A majority of these accidents from what I was able to glance at included a high school student. I believe that perhaps if every student before driving had access to some sort of driver Ed would be a big help in reducing the number of these accidents. While I haven’t witnessed or known someone close to me to die from a teen driving accident, I know they happen all the time and frequently in the city that I live in. Having access to a driver Ed education I think won’t just reduce the number of accidents but the deaths that come with it as well as countless students who have lost their lives to inexperienced drivers or reckless drivers near where I live and attend school myself.

Taking the step to reduce these deaths is to have the proper education before driving. Knowing the laws. Speed limits, signals, and signs I believe will help greatly in reducing those life-taking accidents. Then having access to driver Ed as well will help give that experience behind the wheel that many students need to develop safe driving practices. Many habits that a student develops for driving happen behind the wheel. So when they have access to a driver Ed instructor that will be there to guide them as they navigate a car from behind the wheel will help them develop good driving habits. It’s important to get those good habits so that they don’t develop bad ones and end up causing an accident that ends up taking someone’s life.

I thankfully haven’t experienced being in an accident myself but I have had close calls, mainly due to drivers around me, but I’ve also had close family members been in accidents themselves. One accident where it could’ve been a head-on collision that didn’t involve a student or teen driver in either car, was when I was going to Mexico. We were driving on a freeway in California when all of a sudden the car had swerved hard and my cousin and I were quick to ask what happened as we were asleep when it happened. That’s when we were informed that my uncle had to swerve to avoid an oncoming car as a car from the opposite lane had spiraled across several lanes and ended up driving against traffic. Another time I was almost involved in an accident was when a tire had come off a wood chipper, I’m not exactly sure how as my view of what happened was blocked by the one to two cars in front of me, which had started rolling down the freeway straight towards my car. I had remained calm but I had attempted to dodge the tire but was unsuccessful as it hit the right headlight of my car. Thankfully I was able to keep my car steady and once I was able to pull over to check for damage no harm was done, however, the truck that was hauling the wood chipper was still driving with the rim of the missing tire against the asphalt. It was thanks to a lesson I learned from my online driver’s Ed course that I was able to stay calm and know how to act during the ordeal. As a final story, this had not happened to me, however, a couple of years ago my stepmom and step-siblings were involved in an accident where my stepmom’s car was hit by an oncoming car when she had the green light to turn, and had the right of way. The car had been speeding past the speed limit and ended up colliding with my stepmom and step-siblings. No one was seriously injured however it did leave some mental impacts on my stepmom and siblings. All these accidents I think however could’ve been prevented if not altered if some sort of education was given to the drivers beforehand. Then perhaps some of them could’ve prevented nearly causing accidents or at the very least prevented them from losing control of their vehicles. As well as eliminate some bad habits that some of the drivers might’ve picked up from when they were first learning how to drive behind the wheel.

I think the first step that people can take to be safe drivers is when they’re first learning to drive to enroll in a driver Ed class to get behind the wheel experience in a safe environment. That way any bad habits are eliminated before they develop into something that can be dangerous while on the road. Then another way that drivers can be safe is by remembering how to act during certain scenarios by getting lessons about them in a driver Ed course to avoid causing any major damage and/or casualties if they are to ever occur. Lastly, I think the ultimate way to be a safe driver is to always be aware of where and what other cars are doing around you because even if you’re a safe driver, other drivers around you may be driving recklessly and have developed bad habits that could lead to life taking accidents.