Rethink About How You Drive

The number of deaths caused by driving on the road is horrific, and many people don’t even realize it. That is why the role of driver education is very significant in reducing these numbers. Not only should driver education focus on how to actually drive, but there should also be an emphasis on the discussion of how car accidents happen and how to avoid them. Most car accidents happen because either someone has their cognitive attention somewhere that is not on the road, or someone has a fault in their decision-making process. One of the most important factors of driver education when learning how to avoid accidents is when they talk about alcohol. When you are under the influence of alcohol, the frontal lobe of your brain, which is responsible for decision-making, is inhibited and thus causing the driver to make risky and uncalculated decisions when they are driving, putting themself and someone else at risk. Driver education teaches you the horrible impact of driving under the influence, and hopefully it is helping people understand its significance so that no more accidents happen.

Many steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving. Not paying attention to the road is a major contributor to car accidents, and one of its main sources is the phone. Simply not texting while driving is one of the biggest steps to reducing risk. Even putting your phone on do not disturb or putting it on silent mode is helpful so that you do not feel the need to look at your phone or text back to someone while driving. People may say that they have a phone holder on their dashboard so that means they aren’t at as much risk, but this is generally not true. Even though your eyes might be looking forward or on the road with the phone holder on the dashboard, it is still not the best idea because even for the split second that you take your eyes off the road to look at your phone, you are cognitively dismissing what is happening in front of you and making the lethal weapon that you are driving at a bigger risk of harming yourself and others. If you really need to look at your phone for any reason, driving to a parking space or a rest area to stop the vehicle completely before looking at your phone is one of the best steps you can take in order to reduce the risk of getting into a car accident.

I personally had experienced a car accident before. I was in the back seat while my dad was driving, and his attention was of course not being directed onto the road in front of him. He was talking to someone looking somewhere else, and he was going too fast and did not have enough time to brake and the person in front of him was rear ended. I was holding a coffee mug and was taking a sip from it right before the car accident happened, and it made me wonder: what would have happened to my teeth, or jaw, or my whole head if I was taking a sip from it as the accident happened as the mug would have slammed back into my face? This was a very significant learning lesson for me because I then had a realization about considering the other people around you while you’re driving that can be extremely hurt by your actions. Nobody was harmed in the accident, but I was very close to almost being harmed while the driver would have been completely fine.

It is important that we all take steps to help make known and reduce the tragic effects of car accidents. I will be taking steps such as turning my phone on do not disturb while I’m driving and making sure that even though people are in the car with me that I focus on the road and be as responsible as possible so that no one will be suffering horrible consequences. But reducing the risk for myself is not enough. We as a community need to do something and take the steps in order to ensure an even safer environment for drivers. We should be spreading stories through social media and television to make people aware of how serious you should be taking the road and the harmful effects of making simple mistakes while driving. People should know how accidents are caused and learn from other people’s mistakes. Curing this driving epidemic of car accidents is not going to take just one person, but our entire community. We should remember that car accidents are not inevitable, they are a matter of responsibility that we can do something about.