Get Home Safe

“Get home safe.” A common, polite phrase that is stated time and time again as we watch our loved ones climb into a metal death box. An estimate of 34,000 loved ones die a year because of driving, despite this polite phrase. This is the effect of irresponsible driving. The implications of being a driver seem to be unknown when teenagers first get the long awaited pink paper in their hands. Does it take the death of the people they love for them to understand the risks, or would driving education be suitable enough? If people were to know all the precautions to take while driving, a common phrase would no longer be seen as a necessity. Instead, individuals can protect their loved ones by expanding their own knowledge of driving risks, and teaching others.

Getting your license is often viewed as an extremely exciting experience. 16 year old children have the opportunity to act as adults and grab the reins on their own life. This excitement can cause people to overlook the importance of driving education. Currently, the DMV requires certain training from individuals who are seeking to get their permit under 18. This includes driving education, the permit test, driving lessons with an instructor, 50 hours of driving in 6 months, and the behind the wheel exam. Once you are 18, the requirements change slightly. Teens are three times more likely to participate in a car accident than adults, thus they have more requirements to get their license. Although these requirements and training can seem like a drag, it can be the difference between life and death. These lessons give people the opportunity to learn that our actions affect ourselves and others. In actuality, a lot of the lessons in drivers ed are common sense, but not all. For example, in order to give a driver enough time to stop if rapid braking occurs, it is required that a three second stopping distance be between cars. Without learning this in driving education, most individuals would not be aware of such a law. All it takes is a student to read the sentence, practice it while driving, and they could be saving somebody’s life. Some information in drivers ed seems pointless for 16 year olds to learn, until they are in the situation themselves. For example, infants and toddlers that are under 30 pounds and the age of 2, must be in a rear facing car seat in the back of the car. Whereas for children two or older and are at the weight requirement, must be in a forward facing car seat in the back of the car. Although this didn’t seem applicable when I initially got my license, child safety laws while driving became important to me when I started driving my niece and nephew to school. Driving education is meant to create safety for all individuals. Knowing the rules and statistics of driving, saves lives.

Driving education and learning the statistics of driving are important tools to have. In addition to these tools, there are steps that can be taken in order to implement safety on roads. To start, if people were required to retake the license exam after a certain amount of years, it would show that individuals are still knowledgeable about the rules of the road. For example, some adults have gotten their license 30 years ago, and their driving abilities have not been evaluated since. Another step that could be taken to reduce the number of deaths caused by driving would be to bring back driving classes at schools. These classes could give students the opportunity to get advice from an experienced driver and get an even broader education than drivers ed offers. These students would have access to a driving instructor that could give them pointers even before their actual drivers ed. Taking additional steps to prevent car accidents is a great way to reduce the number of fatalities.

Regardless of knowing the rules, statistics, and even taking extra steps, car accidents may still occur. Personally, I have been put in an uncomfortable situation where I was being driven by a friend, and he was driving incredibly irresponsibly. Not only was he driving drastically too fast, he was shooting nerf gun bullets at passing cars. While I was crying and asking him to stop his irresponsible behavior, I realized that he had no regard for human life. At another time, my mom and I got in a car accident due to irresponsible driving. A man behind us was smoking and paying little to no attention to his surroundings. While we were completely stopped, he took off and drove directly into us. Two years later, I developed severe scoliosis that presses into my colon from this accident. One person’s recklessness can affect a multitude of people.

As many of my friends would agree, I am an overly careful driver. I take safety on the road very seriously. After hearing stories, time and time again, of people losing their loved ones, I have dedicated myself to being part of the change. Despite being an adequate driver, I believe there is always room for improvement. In order to maintain mine and others’ safety on the road, I can continue to drive responsibly, give my full attention, and not get distracted by any passengers in the car. Additionally, I can raise awareness of the importance of driving education and safety on the road. If I was to ever be in an uncomfortable situation again, I can speak up. I can be an example to my loved ones on how to be a safe driver. Instead of being comfortable about my driving education, I can choose to improve, which will save lives.

Driving education is the most vital part to safety on roads. In a perfect world, all individuals would choose to uphold the highest possible safety they can. Unfortunately, we will continue to tell our loved ones to “get home safe,” because a perfect world will never be achievable. Instead, we can raise awareness about the importance of driving education and even reevaluate our driving abilities to make sure we are ready to protect the lives of everybody. Don’t get only one person home safe, get 34,000 people home safe a year.