Driving Education Saves Lives

In our modern society, driving is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. People drive as part of commuting to work, running errands, meeting their friends, or doing anything outside the house. While driving’s benefits are numerous and needed, often people overlook the risks and drive dangerously. Driver education is vital as it provides a baseline of knowledge for those unfamiliar with driving and aids in explaining how to react in dangerous situations. Some steps to reduce the number of driving-related deaths are to encourage defensive driving in education and re-educate people who have violated driving-related laws. I have seen my father drive irresponsibly, which has ensured that I will never use my phone or an extremely loud radio while driving. I will remind my friends of good driving practices like minimizing distractions and using proper signals for tasks like changing lanes.

Driving education is needed as it provides a basic explanation of driving rules. Often, many people do not learn driving specific rules and knowledge from their family or friends that is still important to know, such as the meaning behind obscure or area-specific road signs, vital parts of the car, to stay out of a truck driver’s blindspot and what that looks like, and how to change the oil or other fluids of a car. So, having an official resource that covers basic information and the gaps that others might have missed in their education is necessary to ensure that everyone is not ignoring signs because they don’t know what it means and other costly mistakes. Additionally, driving education can educate people on how to act when driving in dangerous weather, such as snow or heavy rain, or react in situations where the car malfunctions, such as if the brakes go out. This education ensures that people can act in the safest manner possible if that situation were to arise, thus possibly saving lives.

Steps to reduce the number of deaths related to driving are teaching defensive driving and re-educating those who have broken traffic laws. Defensive driving is a way of driving where the driver anticipates dangerous situations and acts with caution around other drivers. Teaching people to be aware of their surroundings and exert healthy caution encourages people to drive more safely when compared to carelessly speeding and swerving, thus allowing people to react safely in a dangerous situation and saving lives. Re-education can be another vital step as re-educating those who have broken traffic laws encourages people to have healthy driving habits to avoid going through re-education as that is a massive time commitment or teaching those that may have forgotten or built bad habits to relearn how to drive safely in a non-judgmental environment.

I have seen my father drive recklessly and dangerously. My dad is a frequent speeder, driving over eighty miles per-hour on a sixty-mile-per-hour highway. He will frequently not use his lane change signal and swerve across several lanes when he is about to miss an exit. One time, when we were driving home from college, he nearly ran into someone in his blind spot while going over sixty miles per hour because he did not check the blindspots of his massive truck or use his lane change signal to alert the driver that he was moving to that lane.

However, my father’s horrible driving habits have pushed me to be a better driver when I do get behind the wheel. Whenever I get behind the wheel, I put my phone on silent and keep the radio low to ensure I am not distracted and lose focus on the road. I always pay attention to speed limits and go roughly five miles below them. I do my best to practice defensive driving, being cautious of other drivers around me, and staying vigilant in case an accident happens. Additionally, I remind my friends to do the same and remain vigilant on the road, using their turn signals and paying attention to the speed limit. I even use their phones to ensure they are not juggling driving and texting if they want to take down a note or send a message to someone.

While driving is a mundane part of daily life, it can also be dangerous when misused, so it is vital to teach others the importance of safe driving and specific bad habits to avoid to ensure that we do not take another’s life on an everyday drive.