Safer Today, Safer Tomorrow

One mistake is all that it takes to change a life permanently. Motor vehicles are extremely powerful, and our society must be educated on the dangers of operating one.

Many people do not realize how their driving habits could be dangerous to themselves or others, but here are some statistics: 19.1% of fatal crashes occur due to speeding, 11.6% due to someone being under the influence, 5.5% due to distraction. Every driver has fallen in at least one of these categories during their time at the wheel. This is why driver education is so immensely important.

I can remember being on the verge of turning 16, and my best friend’s dad talking to me and her about what that means. “Driving is like holding a loaded gun,” he explained. We giggled at first, but then we realized that he was not joking. He continued, “One slight misstep can lead to the gun going off and hurting you or someone around you.” I remember this striking a cord with 15 year old me. I had never realized that driving could be so serious and so dangerous, but this is the reality.

This reality is why we must take driver education seriously. According to tn.gov, 40% of driving school attendees felt that their time in driving school prepared them to be safer drivers. I, myself, did not go to driving school due to the cost. This is a reality for many people who do not have the money to spend on teaching their children to drive. It is simply easier and cheaper to teach their children themselves. This is not to say that parents are incapable of this task: my mother did a wonderful job educating me on driving. But, imagine how much safer our roads would look if driving education was more accessible to all people. This is a step that we must take: we must make driving school a possibility for all drivers. This could look like putting driver’s ed classes back into the schools or using city tax dollars to fund a community driving education program. Whatever that may look like, step one in this process of building safer roads is accessibility of resources.

Now I would be lying if I said that I have never felt unsafe in a friend’s car. We are teenagers, after all, and my friends and I have made driving mistakes on numerous occasions. For instance, one time my friend and I were on a two lane road. She was driving a road we were both familiar with. We came up behind a car that was not driving the speed limit, so when we reached a passing zone my friend found an opportunity to switch lanes and pass. All was well until a car in the opposite lane began speeding up. The car was obviously going well over the speed limit, and my friend and I were unsure if it would slow down. As soon as she could, my friend got back in the lane, nearly missing the oncoming car. While this situation ended okay, it very easily could not have. And I cannot help but wonder as I write this essay if that terrifying situation could have been prevented. For one, this was the first time my friend or I had attempted to pass on a two-lane. It didn’t seem that difficult to either of us, but it proved to be much more of a challenge than we anticipated. If we had the opportunity to receive driver’s education, it is likely that we would have been trained on this specific situation long in advance. Additionally, the driver who was coming towards us obviously did not understand the danger of his or her actions. By speeding up, the driver was creating the possibility of a high-speed crash that could have landed any of the occupants in a dire situation. This is something that all drivers need to be educated on: the consequences of a seemingly harmless action. If that driver had been educated on the dangers of speeding, then he or she likely would not have made that decision that could have been much more costly than it was.

Although I did not get the opportunity to complete a driver’s education program, I can take personal steps to be a better and safer driver. One of these steps is watching my speed. I think many of us tend to go at least a little over the speed limit from time to time, but by keeping my eye on this factor, I can greatly decrease my risk of injuring myself or others. Taking this simple step and encouraging those around me to as well is a small but significant way that I can help make our roads safer.