Driving, the right way

My sister almost did not make it back home. It was a school day like any other back in 2017, I came back home and found my sister’s phone on the table. She was not meant to arrive that early from work. I reached out to my uncle who gave me the news highlighting she was alright. I started feeling a weird sultriness, sweat and bad thoughts were being pictured in my head. What happened was the following: She was sitting at the back of the car back home alongside her coworkers. They were on the Highway when in the distance, they saw a van going in the other lane (the one that goes in the opposite direction). All of a sudden, as they were approaching it, the van starts tending to drive towards their lane, the car’s driver tries a maneuver to avoid a crash, but it ends up driving towards an underground water tunnel, in which they got stuck. The van’s driver calls the highway police and help arrives in time for them to be taken out of the vehicle and transported to a hospital where they had a successful recovery. In this experience, the good news is that the van’s driver knew how to act in case of an accident. But, as cold-hearted as it sounds, it could have possibly been avoided if the car’s driver had practiced defensive driving.

This is why, I have always considered driver education primal to reduce the chance of deaths caused by irresponsible driving. What you learn as a driver is extremely useful since it gives you a roadmap on how to properly act in as many scenarios as possible. For example, knowing how to adequately pull over or knowing that it is better to adjust speed before a bend. In my home country, the possibility of obtaining a driver’s license illegally by just paying for it exists. Due to this, when people that have done that are exposed to real traffic, they do not know how to proceed in certain cases, increasing the chances of harming themselves or others. This is all caused by their lack of theory-based and practical experience that driver lessons give you.

With this in mind, I would like to propose some large-scale measures that can be taken to reduce the number of drive-related deaths. Firstly, I think all countries should follow Quebec’s driver’s license obtention process. Said process operates on a graduated system, each of the 5 levels contain theory content, but what truly makes it outstanding is the fact that genuine road experience increasingly prepares the driver for different kinds of driving scenarios, for example: to achieve level 3 you must drive with an instructor or accompanying driver for at least 10 months, and for 4 level you must complete a road test. These supervised and different driving experiences for long periods of time is what provides a driver with the knowledge and confidence that she/he will do great and will not ruin somebody’s life in the blink of an eye.

The second measure I would like to propose is setting the legal age to drive to at least 18 years of age. In most countries, it is at this age when it makes sense for you to get a license: You are mature and responsible, most likely your parents now give you permission to drive, you could get a job that requires driving, etc. On the other hand, in some other countries (like Peru) you can get a license from the age of 16. The problem with being such a young person is that you are likely to drive drunk just because of a challenge, to prove a point or (foolishly) just to see how it feels like!. All of which possess a high chance of resulting in a disastrous accident because alcohol disturbs vision and reflexes, key capacities needed to drive.

In this regard, I made a promise to myself to never make the road dangerous by not drinking and driving, and always following the traffic rules and signs. That is why I have luckily never been involved in a car accident or ever received a ticket. Additionally, while being co-pilot, I will make sure the person that is driving does so responsibly for everyone’s physical integrity. Furthermore, it is important to notice that, where I live, driving lessons are expensive, thus, not accessible to everyone; however, this should not be used as an excuse for not having driving knowledge because theory can be looked up online and the practical lessons can be taken with an experienced driver such as your parents or even a taxi driver!. With this in mind, I will foster said ideas through social media, so that drivers or aspiring drivers around the country or even the world explore other ways to educate themselves in order to promote safe driving.

I have always wanted to impact positively on the world, if through awareness, I do it, I will be more than satisfied. Subsequently, I wholeheartedly believe that car-related accidents could be avoided through driver education, and they should be. Tragedies in the world we all love must stop and we should be able to transport wherever we want safely.