Driving is Scary

As a 16 year old, driving is one of the biggest and scariest parts of my life. I have only been driving on my own for 4-5 months and I have seen countless almost fatal mistakes that people have made on the road, even experiencing some myself. 84.1% of the US population is driving a car, holding the lives of all of the people around them in their hands with the decisions they make. Things can happen in minutes, or even seconds, when it comes to driving, controlling this machine that is so powerful that it can take lives. On average, there are around 6 million car accidents per year, 40% of these resulting in the loss of a life, and many more resulting in severe injuries.

The importance of driver’s education is a much bigger picture than most people realize, as I previously stated, there are around 6 million car accidents per year. When someone is driving a car, the decisions they make could cost them their life, and hold the life of the person in the cars around them. Especially driving with another person in the car, many of the deaths that take place during car accidents are people that were not even behind the wheel, not even old enough to get behind the wheel. Precious lives are at risk every single day due to reckless and inexperienced driving. I believe that everyone should attend a driving school after they receive their learners permit, I believe that the education of driving should be taught by a professional, not just a parent or guardian that may be making fatal mistakes and not even know it because they were not taught to drive correctly, and then the cycle continues, of inexperienced drivers, taking lives.

Some steps that can be taken to reduce the many deaths that come from deadly car accidents, are mandatory driving schools in each state before you are allowed to earn your license. As well as making the learners permit test more than a series of questions, the questions can be involved but I feel that in order to get your learners permit you should know all of the pedals, the gears, the lights, etc. Instead of that being on your license test, so when you do start driving with your learners permit, you have prior knowledge so no one gets hurt, whether it be you, or the adult you are driving with. I also believe that drunk driving should be more focused on. 25.4% of fatal car crashes are alcohol related, and although that may not seem like a big number, there were 1, 2, or even up to 5 lives in that car, and there were more than likely 2 cars involved. Intoxicated driving kills so many more people than we realize, and I think there should be more awareness considering how dangerous this is. I also believe that children should be taught more about driving at a younger age. Not when they just turned 15 or 16, because it is a new and scary experience. Learning everything all at once could be overwhelming for a teenager, and nervous driving could also cause accidents.

From personal experience, I have been in the car with irresponsible drivers, it is a scary experience. You never know when they are going to make a mistake and you have no control over what is going to happen to you or if anything is going to happen to you. As for myself, I will admit that I am a nervous driver, I have made countless mistakes and I beat myself up for every mistake I make. The first day I ever drove, with my learners permit, I was driving in a parking lot, mixed up my pedals, and crashed my fathers car. Everytime I drive, I see that moment over and over again in my head, no one was hurt, but I still feel so guilty everyday, and I believe this is because I had never driven anything in my life, I had never been taught anything about driving until the day of. I got very overwhelmed and it was part of the reason I crashed. I have not hit anything since that day, but I remember it very vividly, and worry every time I drive. Steps I could take to become a more safe and efficien3 driver are easing up on myself, not being as tense, and letting myself relax because I do know what I am doing, as I attended a driving school and got my license from a driving instructor, but there are still things I can improve on to increase the safety of myself and the other driving around me.

All that being said, I just want everyone to be safe and do as much as I can to prevent car accidents, because they are terrifying, and a lot of the time fatal. Knowing how to drive, and knowing what to do in unusual situations is so important because you never know what is going to happen when you are driving. All of my input is simply for the benefit of everyone who gets behind a wheel or sits in a car beside a loved one.