Drivers Education: A Non-Negotiable Approach to Safety

“Hey! No! No! Don’t get over — there’s a car right next to us! Did you even check your mirrors or wait to make sure no one was in your blind spot?” These words left my mouth as I tightly gripped the handle, my body immediately flooded with anxiety. Hours later, I was still thinking about the near-miss accident that could have seriously impacted my life and the lives of others around us. This was my nearly weekly experience riding with someone who got their driver’s license at 16 but never took drivers training. This was a shocker to me as I thought it was a requirement for everyone on the road. I was raised in a state that did require drivers training and most people at my high school took it as an elective. My birthday made me ineligible for this option, so I took drivers training at an external facility with other teenages in the area. An online search shows that my home state of Indiana still requires 30 hours of classroom instruction, 6 hours of behind the wheel training with a training school, and 50 hours of supervised driving with a licensed driver. There are only 37 states where driver’s education is mandatory. The number of people that are freely operating motor vehicles without the proper drivers education is alarming. Requiring driver’s education in all 50 states would create safer roads and significantly reduce the number of accidents by ensuring that every driver is properly trained and prepared before getting behind the wheel.

Driver education is important because it teaches people the spoken and unspoken rules of the roadway. There are some parts of driving that are more obvious than others. Most of us have experienced the moment when someone is just sitting at the red light with their turn signal on but they aren’t turning despite no traffic and lack of restrictions to right turns on red. Or maybe you are in the right lane and someone is merging into your lane but failed to uphold the yield sign. When a person doesn’t know what road signs actually mean, they are likely to just forgo the rules all together. The old saying, you can’t know what you don’t know, is certainly applicable in situations such as this. It is one thing to physically be able to operate a vehicle, staying in the lanes, obeying the speed limit, and actually knowing right from wrong when navigating the roadways. One particular situation that comes to mind is appropriately responding to approaching emergency vehicles or even emergency services on the side of the road. Drivers education teaches drivers the official state specific handbook of safe driving. I’ve lived in multiple states and have found each state various with specific guidelines and regulations. The topic of different regulations and rules in various states is for another day but it is necessary to at least know the rules of the state of residence.

Deaths from automobile accidents can be prevented by mandating drivers training for all drivers despite their age. It seems like the workaround in some states is that only drivers within certain age groups are required to take driver’s education. Just because someone ages out of a group doesn’t mean they automatically have the critical thinking skills or knowledge necessary to make safe and legal decisions while driving. Instead of allowing individual states to determine what is best, Federal guidelines could provide a baseline for covering the fundamentals to ensure safe roads everywhere. Another solution is requiring periodic driver knowledge tests after a predetermined number of years. As humans age, we are likely to forget some of the details along the way, especially as rules change over time.

My experience with accidents is limited. Many years ago, a rage filled drunk driver hit the side of my car while driving 80+ miles per hour on the interstate. Luckily, I maintained control of my car and didn’t have any serious injuries outside of whiplash, but things could have turned out completely different for me and my family. There were a few instances of getting rear ended while stopped over the years as well. I have been fortunate enough to say that I haven’t caused any accidents nor have I witnessed loved ones in an accident. I’d like to wholeheartedly devote this to the fact that I took drivers education before I even thought about driving. I’m also part of the millennial generation who constantly was shown videos of the impact of drunk driving or texting and driving. These videos scarred me for life and made me take safe driving seriously. Scare tactics don’t always work for all situations, but it’s safe to say it applies when discussing safe driving.

We all deserve safer roadways and it starts with putting policies in place that uphold this standard across all states. Many accidents could have been prevented and it’s our job as citizens on the roadway to ensure the safety of ourselves and others.