Flipped Over.

Flipped
over. On the side of the freeway.

Visualize
this scenario as the first image you see when you open Instagram on a
peaceful, spring day. I don’t have to imagine. The pictures were
staring me down, less than two feet from my face. The horror of
seeing one of my former teammates in such a vulnerable state is one
that I will never fully shake. My dear friend had been in an
accident, in which her car had flipped over and landed upside down
along the side of the 91 freeway.

I
believe that the reason her accident haunted me so was because I was
15 at the time. With my permit test just four measly months away, it
hit me for the first time that the world in which my friend’s car
flipped over was the same world in which I would be driving. Placing
myself in that accident was enough to make me reconsider taking the
permit test outright. Yet, within some limits, I had the power to
make my story different. To take all steps I could in being the
safest driver. And that started with drivers ed.

Driver’s
education is critical in reducing the number of deaths due to driving
because the instructors teach students finite details and skills that
the average parent or guardian wouldn’t know to say. Sure, many
parents are sufficient drivers and likely have useful tips to pass
along, but most are not drivers ed instructors for a living.
Therefore, they don’t have all of the knowledge that the
professionals do about how to not only pass the test, but be a
competent driver in real-life situations. For instance, I knew that
using a turn signal was a vital component of a well-executed turn,
but I didn’t know that SMOG (signal, mirror, over-the-shoulder, go)
was actually the safest way to turn until I took driver’s
education. Many times I have looked over my shoulder before turning
and seen a bicyclist that I would not have seen had I not SMOGed.
Knowing how tragic those situations would have ended, envisioning
every person who has not partaken in drivers ed into that
same scenario is worrisome. It is not a guarantee that each parent or
guardian has taught their children every safe technique, which is
exactly why drivers ed should be required: to make it a
guarantee.

The
obvious steps that can be taken to decrease the amount of deaths
related to driving are: spreading awareness about the dangers of
texting while driving, driving high or drunk, and driving with too
many people too soon. Yet, in-car breathalyzers and parental
reinforcement will further help decrease the number. Installing
in-car breathalyzers into every car will ensure that no person on the
road is driving high or drunk, eliminating the problem unequivocally.
Parents reinforcing the rules of the road with their children will
place a heavier emphasis on why they shouldn’t be driving
dangerously, and therefore at least mitigate the issue.