Preventing accidents

I grew up in a rural community in Nebraska. My driving career began at the age of six sitting on my grandfather’s lap, driving down the road as he controlled the speed. It was a safe environment that allowed me the chance to gain experience in a safe manner with the security of knowing that someone was there in case I needed help or made a mistake. As I got older, this gradually changed to him sitting beside me, to me driving a golf cart without anyone with me to finally driving around the cornfield on my own to deliver lunch to him as he farmed when I was twelve.

Driver’s education, in essence, is the same process that allows other children the chance to have someone completely focused on them as they are learning how to make good decisions when taking command behind the wheel. While they are not sitting on their grandfather’s lap learning, they are offered the experience and guidance from a knowledgeable teacher to help them make good decisions. It allows them to build confidence and reduce fear as they start the process of driving. This practice is what they will continue to base their driving career on, so it needs to be good, strong advice.

Building a strong foundation is the key to ensuring that there is something to build on as they continue to learn. Trial and error is only going to have a positive outcome if there is a way to help eliminate the chance of error. This is where driver’s education comes into play. Knowing and trialing common things that happen and can cause an accident will allow children who are learning to drive the knowledge to correct behaviors or careless actions prior to actually having an accident happen.

I have been in an accident. While driving down a gravel road, I hit some loose gravel and began to fishtail. Even with the background knowledge that I learned from my grandfather, I was unable to recover and tipped my car over in a ditch when I dropped a tire into softer ground. Thankfully, I was able to climb out of the car with no injuries due to seatbelt use. This would not have been as good of an outcome without using some of the knowledge I had to keep things under control so I could slow down more before ending up in the ditch.

I truly believe that students should be exposed to as many situations prior to getting their license and taking command of the vehicle. Living in Nebraska, there are multiple challenges that take years to learn. This includes ice, gravel roads, hot asphalt and water from storms that can cause hydroplaning. While it is impossible to be exposed to every circumstance, having techniques from a classroom to help prevent these kinds of accidents can be useful. Hearing my family talk about how to correct a fishtail is what helped me.

Nebraska has the opportunity to take Driver’s education, but you also need to spend fifty hours driving with a parent after getting a provisional learner’s permit. After those fifty hours are completed, they can get their school permit. After turning sixteen, they can only have one passenger to eliminate distractions so they can focus on their driving and not everything else that is going on in the car. This process is a good way to allow new drivers the chance to learn more without distractions.

One final area that needs to be addressed to all children is that taking unnecessary risks is not worth your life. These risks may not cause the driver’s death, but may result in an accident that kills someone else. Text messaging can wait. Mom always told me to put the phone in the center counsel and ignore it until I put the car in park. Nothing is so important that it is worth risking my life. She is also a good role model as far as drinking. She has asked me to come pick her up instead of driving unsafely. This kind of role-modeling has had a lasting effect on my life, and I will do the same thing when I am able to drink.

Driving is a very important job. My parents are both EMTs and have seen what can happen in an accident. They have counseled family members that have lost loved ones and have tried to save people that have been injured. They don’t sugar-coat how horrible these accidents are to everyone around them. It is a wave of sorrow that affects everyone, and I don’t plan to be the person who causes that sorrow. Thankfully, I have learned how to be a good driver.