The Importance of Driver’s Education

Driver’s education is one of the most important things a young and new driver can go to, the reason why is that it teaches you vital information you will need to become a successful driver. For example, commonly students don’t know the procedures for certain intersections, like a 4 way stop, or even how to park up and down a hill. The reason why this is so vital is that commonly people don’t know the information before starting to drive, and if they don’t take driver’s ed there is a lot of information they would be missing. There are roughly 120 deaths due to motor vehicle accidents every single day in the US. Only around 44% of people who have their license have even taken drivers ED. Now what do you think that number of deaths could be dropped down to if they had taken driver’s Ed? Probably pretty low due to the important skills and knowledge that Driver’s ed gives you. Something that could be done to limit the deaths of young drivers in the US would be by extending the requirement for a license and needing to take driver’s Ed from 18 to 21. The reason why is that the adult brain doesn’t finish growing until 26 years old, and it matures around 21, this can be a correlation between young teen death through driving. When I took driver’s Ed I myself had learned a lot that I wouldn’t have learned on my own, or through being taught. Even my father who was a state trooper couldn’t teach me everything that I learned from Driver’s Ed. I personally have never been in a car accident however my brother is not the greatest driver, he has a lot of unsafe habits when driving and doesn’t seem to understand what he is doing is wrong. For example he waits until the very last minute to brake and commonly will just slam the brakes instead of slowing down and stopping, he also speeds a lot and doesn’t keep his eyes on the road all the time. As well he doesn’t seem to understand what is wrong with doing that and when confronted about it he gets an attitude, and doesn’t seem to understand what the other person is talking about. He also doesn’t take any advice and is incredibly stubborn to even the point where he will refuse to listen to advice even if it would save his life. My parents too sometimes speed but usually when matching the flow of traffic, and not to drive unsafely as they are very good at driving. Another big issue I see is with people not understanding that the advice isn’t coming from a place of malice or making fun of them, it’s about making sure that not only are they being safe for themselves but also for others on the road. He had taken driver’s Ed when he was around 16 years old and didn’t get his license until he turned 20 years old, which is a 4 year age gap between. Causing him to not be able to keep the knowledge and skills he had learned in drivers Ed. Something I can do to make sure that I am being safe on the road is by keeping up on local laws and watching videos about road conduct. Each area is different when it comes to speed and the flow of traffic, so doing that can help better understand my environment. As well keeping up to date on vehicle maintenance and taking some time to properly understand how my vehicle works, in the event of an accident or damage to the car this can help me properly understand the safety procedures and damaged areas when returning to driving. Something I can do also is by talking with the people I know and correcting destructive behaviors when it comes to driving their vehicle and making sure their vehicle is maintained properly. The biggest issue is that people commonly don’t know the working parts of their vehicle and how to tell if something is damaged or where they can get it fixed, which can lead to further damage and possible accidents. Something my father had me do too to be more familiar with my surroundings while driving was doing an audible drive, which entails talking about any moving part like a person crossing the sidewalk or a car behind making a left turn. This can be very important when learning how to be aware of your surroundings because it gets you to think less about yourself and more about the people around you. In conclusion, in order to be a safer driver, I can make sure that both me and the person who is driving is being safe and constantly aware of their surroundings.