With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Anna
Cappella

2020
Drivers ed Essay Contest

With
Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Every
time you sit behind the wheel of a vehicle, you assume the
responsibility, not only for your own life, but for the lives of your
passengers, and furthermore, your motorist companions, their
passengers, pedestrians and emergency service workers. That’s a lot
of lives. A life is not just a person. A life is a collage of
interests and loves, actions and ideas. To end a life is to take that
energy out of this world, out of other’s lives, out of someone’s
family. For this reason, if for no other, driving safely, and driving
safely every time you drive, is of paramount importance.

The
first time I put keys in the ignition of a car, I felt the enormity
of my action. When you drive, you are taking control of, on average,
2,000 pounds of mass and momentum. For most teenagers learning how to
drive, that control alone is more responsibility than they’ve ever
had, and with the addition of other cars and other drivers, knowing
how to properly control a vehicle is the only way to ensure driver
safety. In short, improved education is the answer to increased
vehicle-related deaths. 

Driver’s
education must address specific safety issues. A well-developed
driving regiment focuses on repetition of key reactions to increase
driving fluency. For example, it is crucial for a driver to know
whether braking, left motion, or right motion is the safest route to
avoiding an unexpected obstacle or collision. The development of
these reactions is integral to evading trouble on the road, and is
central to creating driver confidence. 

In
addition, the best tool to ensure safety to both experienced and
inexperienced drivers is to increase education on the many dangers of
driving improperly. There are far from enough educational
advertisements and supplements that highlight the hazards of driving.
Part of learning how to drive needs to include direct examples of the
consequences of distracted, drunk or careless diving. Anecdotes can
be powerful. When I was first starting out, naturally I didn’t want
to hear about how grave the consequences of a mistake on the road
could be, but now I realize that I would rather know than not know;
that knowing makes me a better, safer driver. Before I even touched
the wheel of my first car, my dad took me outside for a lesson on
risks. After measuring the time it took me to read a text (2
seconds), we calculated the distance I would move in 2 seconds
traveling at 50 miles per hour. One hundred and forty-six feet, which
we measured down the street in sections of 50 feet. I remember that
distance every time I get in the car now, and I vow, because of it,
to never touch my phone while driving. That is the kind of education
that makes U.S. roads safer.

471
words