How Driver Education Has Affected Me

In the United States alone, around 42,759 passed away due to motor accidents last year. One hundred and seventeen people die every day from car accidents (GSHA). Jonathan writes about road related deaths in the article by Governor’s Highway Safety Association. Driver education is important in keeping the environment on the roads as least dangerous as possible. Most high schools in America require students to take driver’s education classes and behind the wheel in order to graduate. Studies have proven that requiring kids to take driving classes helps them to be safer when driving, which causes less road deaths. Driving can be extremely dangerous when the driver is distracted, which results in the majority of deaths on the road. In order to keep the roads safe and the number of deaths minimal, students should be taught the impacts of distracted driving, the rules of the road drive under the influence, and how to operate vehicles in different situations.

Driving education is essential to learn the rules of the road and how to operate a vehicle. When on the road and students use the rules, it makes the roads safer for everyone. According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln, “ Young drivers who have not completed driver’s education are 75 percent more likely to get a traffic ticket, 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or injury accident and 16 percent more likely to have an accident, the study showed (NewMan, Ian, and Duane Shell).” Driving education is important in teaching students how to operate a vehicle and the rules of the road. The statistics show that by just taking a driving education class, kids are less likely to be caught up in an accident. Having everyone go through a driving class will cause the roads everywhere to be more secure. Driving classes can also have the ability to make people more confident in their driving abilities. I did not receive my license until my senior year of high school and was still afraid to drive by myself. I was scared to drive alone and even operate a vehicle in the first place; until I went to a driving school day hosted by BMW car club of America, Michelin Tire, and Tirerack. I learned how to act in emergency situations on the road, which was emergency braking and swerving out of the way of obstacles. The effect of driver education gave me the skills and confidence to safely drive on the road without being scared. I learned I could control my vehicle and what I can and cannot do with it. Driving education positively impacted me so much that I was statistically less likely to be involved in a motor incident. This has made me confident in my driving abilities.

Roads being safer will have many positive effects on society. I personally have trauma (not physical) from road accidents and for the longest time was petrified to drive a car. I was scared to drive because I did not want to be responsible for the lives around me. I could not live with myself if I killed or injured others from my actions. Many other people also have trauma, physical or mental from vehicular accidents. My friend and I both have put off taking our license tests for the longest time because of our not so favorable memories of car crashes. I have witnessed a car being flipped over at an intersection because they were run into by another car. I have also been in the car with my family while another car was driving in the wrong lane, on the highway, straight at us. The most horrible story though is of a fellow band member dying from hydroplaning. She and their family were on the interstate and lost control. They crashed into the side of the road and that cost the majority of the people in that car their lives. This was a terrifying memory playing in the back of my head when it started raining a lot when I was driving home with my mom on the interstate. There was a lot of traffic and cars driving really fast. I was so scared that I was going to hydroplane. It was not until after this when I learned how to operate a vehicle safely when hydroplaning at the Street Survival day.

Steps communities can take to positively affect the number of deaths while driving is making driver education accessible. Teaching the rules of the road, how to operate a car, and the effects of distracted driving or driving under the influence will make the roads indefinitely safer. This will prevent people from dying or being forever paralyzed in a car accident.