In the Driver’s Seat

Madelyn Landes

28 May 2020

“In the Driver’s Seat” Scholarship Submission

Every adult or young teen that is going to be driving should be taking a drivers ed course. It is extremely important that new drivers know all the rules of the road and even the real, raw facts that come with driving on any road. Drivers ed is what allows new drivers to learn about the rules and experience for the first time what it is like on the road with their driving instructor. My instructor told raw stories and showed real accidents that he was in and other people that were close to him were in and it has really stuck with me ever since I started driving. He explained what they had done or what the other party had done to cause the accident. The importance of drivers training to reduce deaths is to explain to people what to do quickly if you were ever in a certain situation and also how to avoid deadly situations. Steps that can happen to reduce the number of deaths by driving is to put your phone somewhere where you know it won’t be distracting. If you are the person driving make sure everyone in your car is buckled up. Never drive impaired because of the use of alcohol or drugs. Personally, I have never been in a car accident other than hitting a deer but it wasn’t a life threatening situation. However, in May 2019 when my parents were coming home from my grandma’s house they were hit by a drunk driver that came barrelling off of a side road. This caused my mom, who was driving, to try to turn the car in the opposite direction, drive over a stop sign, and land in the middle of a field. The man who was drunk tried to drive away before the police could get there but ended up being too drunk to do that. Thankfully, my parents did not have life threatening injuries. Things that I do to try to be a safe driver is putting Spotify on a station that I know I will enjoy and will not have to pick up my phone to change the song. When I drive with my friends and there are multiple people in the car, we all try not to be distracted, especially if there is more than one other person in the car. Everyone should consider this when driving with a group of their friends.