Importance of Driver’s Training

Driving is something that should be taken very seriously (even though sometimes it is not). There are countless deaths every year due to driving related accidents. Driving can be very useful, fun and practical, but can also be a danger with careless drivers on the road.

Driver’s education is an important step of becoming a safe driver. The course is not required for adults, but definitely should be. If you are over eighteen all you have to do to get your driver’s license is pass the driving and written tests. The driver’s ed course is only 20 hours and touches on almost everything you need to know to be a safe driver and be aware on the road.

I am only seventeen, but I have already seen how unsafe driving can ruin lives. Last summer one of my friends from high school was driving down a dirt road doing almost double the speed limit and flipped his truck. He had two of my other good buddies in his truck with him. None of them were wearing seatbelts and were all harmed during the incident. He lost control of the truck and went into a ditch at over 90 mph, jumped over the cross street and the truck flipped over forwards. The truck jumped over the stop sign across the street and bent the top of the sign. One of the passengers has a very successful landscaping business and has people that depend on him weekly. He ended up with a broken back and had to put a halt on his business. He is still not fully recovered. Although he is now back to work, he is still in physical therapy for his back. The passenger in the back seat was ejected out through the window and was lying next to the flipped truck unconscious. When the ambulance arrived, they put a neck brace on him and told him that he had broken his neck. He is now mostly recovered, but he missed out on his senior varsity football season in the spring. The driver only ended up with a broken nose that was healed in weeks and now has a truck worth a lot more than his previous one from his insurance claim. He felt extremely guilty about what happened and was devasted about what he put his friends through.

It is crucial that you follow the rules taught in drivers’ education and the laws of the road. They were made for a reason and it’s to keep everyone safe. Things can go astray very quickly at fast speeds and usually there is not very much time to react.

After completing driver’s ed my twin brother and I took an additional course at the Mid-Ohio race track called teen defensive driving. That course covered things that drivers ed didn’t cover. The class started off with a lesson of how the day was going to go and some important details of how race car drivers drive on their daily commutes. They are much more aware and ready for danger to come on the road. The instructor stressed looking at the horizon when you’re driving so you know what’s coming up. You won’t realize you look down when you’re driving until you pay attention to what your eyes are focused on. Most drivers have their eyes fixated on the car in front of them. Looking at the horizon helps you know what’s coming up so that you can make a plan in your head of what to do before something does come up. It’s something that you have to train your eyes do to and make a habit but it helps a lot once you master it.

The class had around twenty Honda Civics that we all got to drive and learn in. Most drivers have never used their breaks to the full potential and felt ABS kick in. The instructors gave us a braking zone that we had to stop in. The first two cones mark when we start breaking and the second two cones are when we have to come to a stop. They sprayed the pavement to make it slippery to simulate braking in the rain. The second segment was a row of cones about twenty yards long that split into three lanes. There were stop lights at the end of the left and right lane and whichever one turned green you had to swerve into. The objective of the exercise was to work on reaction time. The final segment was a Civic with training wheels in all four corners. The car had no traction and just slid around. You had to go through a course of cones laid out and do a controlled slide to not spin out or hit the cones.

In conclusion, the more training you take the better you are going to be at driving and the safer you will be on the road. If everyone had the proper training before going out onto the roads there would be far less deaths and injuries. Overall, the world would be a better place and we would feel better knowing that we are safe.