In the drivers seat

Driving is something we all need to survive in this world, to get to places like school,work ,sports games etc. Even if you don’t drive yourself, there is someone driving for you. On a school bus, public bus, taxi or other forms of transportation. Someone even drives the ambulance from an accident to the hospital. Accidents are very common in driving, it has become way too common in the United States. Drivers education is important for new and old drivers. It is important because it teaches us the basics of driving including how to read road signs and what they mean. Driver’s education teaches us facts and gives us tools to be better drivers, and help decrease road deaths. Today, in the US, there are thousands of deaths related to driving each year. I think that in today’s world we can take a lot of steps to help that number go down. One big factor that would help would be to replace 4-way intersections with roundabouts. Many people ignore stop signs when they don’t see other cars which is very dangerous. There are also a lot of 4 way intersections in small neighborhoods where many drivers ignore speed limits which is very dangerous as well. At a roundabout, drivers are forced to slow down and yield to oncoming cars, having no stops will also make people less negligent as there is no stop sign to avoid. According to Rhoads and morrow (March 2022), there have been 35% fewer accidents in roundabouts than in 4-way intersections, that proves that roundabouts are safer than 4-ways, Rhoads and morrow also said that there is a 90% decrease in deaths when roundabouts are implemented, instead of 4 ways, and there is als a 75% decrease in injuries. Another reason roundabouts are safer than 4-ways is because a lot of drivers due to negligence or other reasons completely avoid the right of way Either they are late and do not want to wait for other vehicles to pass by, or simply do not care. Another step that can be taken to avoid car collisions is to add side view mirror cameras, with this done people would not have to check their blindside mirrors and can avoid hitting a car they do not see. Of course, this would be extremely expensive for car manufacturers and not everybody can afford a new car but as the years go by this could be an especially useful idea. A couple years back, during Christmas, I was going to a Christmas party, but plans quickly changed. My mother got a call that my father and older brother had gotten in a car crash. It was a very frightening moment as we had no idea what to expect, and no idea what had happen.we did not know how bad it was, or how many injuries they had suffered. Thankfully, there were minor injuries, and my father and brother were out of the hospital in a couple of hours. My Dad was at a red stoplight in his red Nissan truck when suddenly, a small sedan rammed into the back of my dad’s truck. The airbags went off and the ambulance was quickly called. We don’t know why this person did not stop, maybe they were distracted, but I’m glad that my father and brother are still here today. What if it would have been a bigger truck that rammed into them? Would the injuries have been worse or fatal? Thankfully, that is not what happened, but that is not the case in every car collision. Think about all the people that die in car collisions due to other driver’s negligence and simply not paying attention, or driving while impaired or under the influence. It is very sad to think about that, because that is somebody’s child who has just died in a car crash, or maybe somebody’s parent. It is sad to think that simply because someone wanted to beat a red light, someone else died, and now their family has to go through months of grief. It is sad to think that because someone felt like they could drive under the influence perfectly fine, now someone has to bury their parents. It is sad to think that a quick look at the phone can cause another person’s life to be gone, maybe even yours. This is why driver’s education exists and is important. Education helps raise awareness of how negligence could impact people’s lives. Driver’s education helps people understand the laws and procedures of driving. Driver’s education impacts the roads, to make them safer and to make the world a better place. Some steps I can take to be a safe driver, is to forget I have a phone when I am driving, to always check My blind sides even, when our side view mirror does not show a vehicle, to always check if there is a car coming at intersections, and to pay attention to avoid running into the back of someone. These are all steps we can take to be a better driver. I want to thank everyone for the opportunity for this scholarship. I hope everyone finds it helpful so we can make roads safer.