Importance of Driver Education

Driver Education is key to helping reduce the number of deaths that are related to driving. Almost anyone can learn to drive a car, it is a task that requires minimum skill. Driving a car comes with a lot of responsibility. Being able to safely drive a car takes a lot more than just operating a vehicle. I remember when my grandparents first taught me how to drive a car we were in a large empty parking lot and I felt so cool because I knew how to drive a car. I was 14 at the time so I was on cloud 9, because I was driving a car, it was such a big milestone.

After hitting this milestone and turning 15, I was able to get my learner’s permit. I was so excited about this, but I didn’t realize how much there was that went along with getting my permit. I had to do so much studying and work hard to learn about all the different rules of the road. I passed my permit test the second time I took it and was just so excited to start driving. The year when I was 15 I would beg my parents to let me drive everywhere, which they usually let me. I enjoyed driving and was always learning something new when I would be on the road, but my knowledge grew when my parents put me in a Driver Education course.

My Driver Ed course was a hybrid course, so I was able to do the class online, but then have my driving lessons in person (obviously) to get my hours. I enjoyed my online class a lot because I was able to work at my own pace and work around my schedule so I was able to sit and put all my focus and attention on the course. During this course, I learned so much about safely operating a car and all the little technical things someone wouldn’t even think about with their car. I was also able to learn so much about all the different rules of the road, the different signs, what to do in certain situations, and even driving in bad weather. I found this class to be very beneficial to me, because even to this day almost four years later I still remember all the things from this class that help me to be a good driver.

When it came to the actual driving portion of the class, I didn’t know what to expect and I was super nervous going into it. I ended up enjoying it and was able to learn so much from it. I did my driving lessons in January so there was snow on the ground, which I think was a really good experience to have learning how to drive in bad weather from the beginning. My instructor was able to give corrections when they were needed positively and he helped shape me into the driver I am today.

When it comes to reducing the number of deaths that are a result of car accidents I think that it should be required for everyone to take a driver’s education course to get their license. Requiring people to be educated on all the parts of driving, especially the rules of the road would make it less likely for people to have accidents from traffic violations. I also believe that scaring the statistics into people would help them to realize how much of an issue death as a result of driving is. The sats are out there and they are scary to look at, so I think that making the statistics more well-known and more widely advertised in a sense would really scare people into being safer drivers.

I had an experience with being in an accident and thankfully everyone was okay, but it changed my mood and ruined what was supposed to be a really good night. I was driving on the interstate on my way to a concert. This concert was to go see Benson Boone, and I was so excited because he is one of my all-time favorite artists. I was almost to where I was meeting up with my family, and I rounded a curve on the interstate and there was a lot of traffic. I was able to slow down and get with the pace of traffic, but there was a semi-truck behind me that did not. I got rear-ended by this semi-truck and it was one of the scariest moments ever. It turned into a very complicated situation because the other people were not cooperating with me which was not helpful at all, and this situation put me in a bad mood and made it hard to enjoy my night.

I know that I do my best every day to be the best driver that I possibly can but there is always room for improvement. I am working to be more aware of my surroundings to avoid causing accidents or being the car that is hit in an accident. Being able to keep being a safe driver I am working to keep myself safe, as well as the others on the roads with me. I think that if everyone works their hardest to be the best drivers they can be and be aware of all aspects of driving the number of deaths that result from driving would be considerably lower.