Driving Towards the Future

Imagine you are an optimistic high school senior, who is working an after school job to help pay for college. You have just called your mother to tell her that your shift had ended, and you will be home shortly. As you pull out of the parking lot, you are not aware of the man who is so intoxicated, that the bartender immediately dumped out the drink his friend ordered for him, as soon as she set eyes on him walking into the bar, that is barreling down the wrong side of the street at high speeds. The intoxicated man, we will call him Mr. Intoxicated, who was so irate over not being served, stormed out of the bar, after punching his friend in the face for trying to stop him from driving, jumped in his car and drove off down the wrong side of the street. Seven miles down the street, Mr. Intoxicated ran a red light, hitting the drivers side door of the bright high school senior at a speed much greater than the posted 45MPH, ending her life. Many lives were affected that night, the family of the girl who was killed, Mr. Intoxicated who did not realize he had killed someone until he sobered up in jail the next day, and even the bartender, who even though she did not serve Mr. Intoxicated any alcohol, and called the police when he drove away, still felt responsible because she could not stop him from getting into his car. The bartender in this narrative is my sister, and though this accident happened 10 years ago, she still has guilt over it. While my sister does not drink alcohol, her own driving habits could use a lot of improvement (she was caught on a red light camera with her phone to her ear and a cigarette and can of soda in one hand). While my sister has not injured anyone with her driving habits, yet, she is definitely not focusing on driving and her surroundings.

In the United States, 37 states require a drivers education course prior to getting a driver’s license, this applies to teen aged drivers only in 36 of the 37 states, and the other state only requires a drivers education course for those 21 and under. Studies concerning the efficacy of drivers education courses present mixed results dependent on which state the study comes from. I believe that all people, regardless of age, should have to take a drivers education course prior to obtaining a driver’s license, and I think there should be a standardized curriculum, and that part of the course should be behind the wheel instruction. In recent years there has been a greater percentage of people who are obtaining their driver’ s license after the age of 18. Since there is no required driver’s education course, these people are learning from their friends and family members, and they in turn, pick up the bad driving habits of these people. I feel I definitely benefitted from the driver’s education course I took as a teenager in Wisconsin. The course taught me that I need to be focused on the road, constantly be assessing my surroundings, and prepared me for situations such as inclement weather. I have been driving for 30 years, and have never been in an accident where I was at fault. My sister who got her license at age 20, in Arizona, had no driver’s education, no experience behind the wheel, only had to take a written driving test to get her license, has been in multiple accidents where she is at fault. If my sister took the same driver’s education course as me, I feel like she would be a more cautious, more improved driver.

Most deaths that result from motor vehicle accidents are easily avoidable. I do not believe that the average driver gets behind the wheel with intention of ending a life. I do believe that many drivers do not believe that their actions or driving habits could end a life. (I mean they need to post those videos for their followers, right?) I firmly believe that visual representation is a very effective way to convey how a driver’s actions can lead to fatal accidents. The rapidly changing world we live in has become very dependent on visualization, to the point where if a situation is verbally expressed, many people might not understand the narrative. If these same people were shown a video or visual display, the same situation might be clearly understood. There are people who will think that using examples of traffic fatalities for educational purposes is gruesome, but I feel that it would be effective, a visual example of a “what if” question. Using safe driving education, in addition to behind the wheel education, and visual representation of driving fatalities, I believe there could be a significant decrease in driving fatalities. I think it is important that all drivers know the proper rules of driving, every day I see examples of people that never learned the difference between a flashing yellow and a flashing red light at a crossroads, people who do not know the order in which to proceed when turning from a Main Street, side street, or parking lot, and living in Arizona, my favorite is people who don’t know that it is illegal to make a left turn from the center travel lane whenever they feel like it.

A conscious effort must be made to drive more safely. Phones need to be put down, eyes need to be kept on the road, as drivers we must be aware that the vehicles we are traveling around in have the potential to take lives, and that the decisions we choose to make behind the wheel effects not only ourselves and our family, but everyone else on the road, as well as pedestrians, and the families of those pedestrians and other drivers. Being a more cautious, considerate driver helps to ensure that everyone has a better chance at achieving the future they dream of having.