Drivers education and my personal experience witnessing reckless driving

Driver education is important for learning how to drive, however there is more to driving than just the mechanics of operating a car.  I believe more can be done to educate people about safety on the road and considerate, responsible driving. 

In recent years road rage has become an extreme problem causing many avoidable accidents. Simulators are a great way to practice driving situations without the danger of having an accident. I believe it would be beneficial to have a simulation of incidents that can cause road rage to educate people on better ways to react without going over the edge.  It could also simulate the consequences if you over react to driving situations. 

Another aspect of driver education should concentrate on is driving while impaired. I have never been in an accident, however my uncle was the victim of a drunk driver when he was eight years old. While riding his bicycle he was hit by a seventeen year old drunk driver and dragged fifty feet down the street opening his skull to expose his brain. He was not expected to live. Five rocks were embedded in his brain and had to be removed with forceps. It took an hour just to wash out the brain cavity of the dirt and other debris that was picked up while being dragged. He has three titanium plates that were used to put the skull pieces back together and there is a space as big as my pinky finger where there is no bone at all.

My uncle is now thirty five but functions very well for such a traumatic brain injury.  I have heard about his injury most of my life and it has had an impact on my entire family. My mother was always wary of me riding a bike due to this.  My mother and grandmother also suffer from PTSD since 1998 when this happened. It has made me more aware of the dangers of driving while impaired and instilled in me the importance of driving safely.

I would like to see simulators that expose the driving student to what it looks like when driving impaired and show how a slowed reaction time will impact your ability to respond to situations. If the simulator was set up to react the way an impaired driver would at different levels of impairment or the visual images were blurred as if the driver were impaired, the experience might hit home.

I believe the most important way to lower the number of impaired driving accidents is to educate students before they even start driving of the dangers and consequences of their actions when behind the wheel of a vehicle. 

One way to accomplish this is by having victim impact panels in which the survivors or family of driving accident victims speak about their experiences, the cost, the effects on the family and what they live with on a daily basis because of the actions of others. I can share my family’s experience with my friends to help them understand how important it is to drive responsibly. I believe it is important to also hold people accountable for the way they drive.

It would be easy to say that laws should be stricter for offenders of road rage and impaired driving but in actuality putting everyone in jail just is not the answer.  New drivers should lose their privilege to drive until the age of twenty one if they are guilty of reckless driving.  Restrictions on the number of people allowed to ride with new drivers is a very good tool in my opinion. This prevents a lot of peer pressure to do something  stupid while driving since there wouldn’t be anyone to pressure them. It would also be good to only allow new drivers to drive at certain times, such as no driving after eight PM unless for employment.

I can accomplish this by refusing to ride with someone who is driving irresponsibly whether that be road raging, driving impaired or in a reckless way.  I may also end friendships with someone who refuses to take the privilege of driving seriously. I believe peer pressure can work both ways and I can use peer pressure in a positive way to encourage my friends to be safe on  the road. 

I also believe I can carry on the work my family has done to speak whenever asked about my experience and how my uncle has fared after his injury. I feel that I must hold myself to a higher standard and be an example to my peers and anyone else who will listen about the impact of reckless driving.   

In conclusion, I believe we are all responsible for educating ourselves and those who will soon be driving to make our roads safe for other drivers and passengers and prevent unnecessary deaths on our roads.