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2023 Driver Education Round 1 – Do Not Look Down

Name: Rachael Estelle Meynarez
From: Lake Worth, Florida
Votes: 0

Do Not Look Down

Have you ever wondered what some of the highest causes of death are? Some may say war or illness, which both harm or kill many people. However, have you ever thought about driving accidents? In some years alone, there were more deaths from car accidents than in some U.S. wars. When speaking on the subject of driving safety and driving education, the importance is astronomical.

Without a doubt, driving safely is an extremely important habit to get into. Nevertheless, just because you practice safe driving skills and have good habits does not guarantee your protection. Driving depends on the honor system to function properly. Everyone must depend on each other with the hope that the rules will be upheld. When you are driving and you stop at a red light, your immediate thought isn’t going to be about how you think the person behind you is going to slam into your car. It will probably be about how you missed the light and now you will have to wait for it to change. In this situation you must trust the driver behind you to be paying attention to the light and stop before they hit you. Regardless, no one is shaking in fear when the light turns red, why? This is because you assume that anyone on the road has been properly educated on driving and what the rules of the road are. Educated drivers make the safest drivers. However, some people choose not to learn proper road etiquette and it causes unnecessary problems. Some ways people can reduce deaths is to ensure they are well-informed about the road and its works. If everyone took the time to educate themselves about drivers’ education, there would be a significant drop in car related deaths. Another way people can aid in saving lives on the road is to report drivers that appear to be driving unsafe. For example, swerving back and forth, delayed reactions, going far too fast or too slow are a few of the unsafe behaviors that can be noticed on the road. Even if you are not directly affected by the bad driving, you should still report it. We all have to take personal responsibility to make sure we are aware of our surroundings while driving a vehicle so that we all stay safe.

Even though when on the road the decisions everyone’s makes affects you, the most important thing is to make sure your decisions are safe and effective. Making sure you personally are up to date on everything to do with driving laws and regulations. If you are good at scanning the road then maybe you will be able to see the car making a last minute decision and avoid any collisions. You must be able to drive meticulously and responsibly before going on the road. I have not personally been in an accident but I know they can be very scary and some of the times, easily avoidable. For example, If two people were texting and driving and neither saw the other start to drive through an intersection, the result would be a pretty bad crash. If they had however ignored the incoming text until it was safe to answer the texts, then they would have seen each other and both would have driven away safely. Now of course accidents happen, we are human after all, but accidents could be reduced down to a much more reasonable number if everyone worried about if they were educated enough to drive safely on the road. If we each look after our own driving education and trusted others to do the same it would be a safer road to drive on. Somethings just can’t be avoided let us take the this case for instance, If a safe driver is driving up to a stop sign and when they push on the break it doesn’t slow the car. The driver then tries to slam their foot on the break but it still does not slow the car. Now another driver is about to turn when they see another car coming. If they weren’t paying attention then they might pull right out into the other car, but because they scanned before started to pull out, both drivers were able to avoid a bad accident. When trying to avoid issues on the road do not turn your gaze away from the other drivers, but scan effectively.

To sum up everything said thus far, driving is extremely important, but possibly the most important thing on the road are the rules. Everyone needs to learn and demonstrate them. When driving effectively don’t look down, look up, ensure your and everyone else’s safety is guaranteed while you’re on the road.