Driver Education and Safety

Driving is a privilege and is being used for the wrong reasons in our world today. People are misusing this and creating havoc on the road that has caused over 34,000 deaths a year just from people having road rage, car wrecks, and not being smart when getting into the driver’s seat of a vehicle. It is extremely important that we pay attention to the driver’s education we are forced to take to get our license and be aware of our surroundings so we can decrease these numbers and be safe, defensive drivers all over the world.

Drivers’ education is provided to people so they can gain the knowledge of what they need to know when driving and what to be aware of in different situations. It provides explanations and videos for one to be prepared for the journey on which they are about to embark of getting their license. The driver’s education course is important because it prepares drivers to enter the road with knowledge that will allow them to be a safer driver. To illustrate this, before I took this course, I didn’t know what some signs on the road meant, now every time I drive by a sign have no doubt about what it means. Another example that this course prepares one for the road is knowing the rules of how a driver feels when on the road. If the driver is feeling fatigued or tired, it is not wise to continue drive, but to stop somewhere and take a moment to rejuvenate energy to continue the drive. Often people think this course is a waste of time due to the length and just let the videos run without paying attention. However, if someone gets into a crash and doesn’t know what the consequences would be, it is because they were not focused on the outcome of not using the course to their advantage.

With the help on drivers’ education, there are steps to be a defensive driver that will lead our society into less deaths related to driving. First when one turns the age of 15, they can get their learners permit and this will allow for one to practice driving with an adult that can guide them. It is extremely important that these students have a trusted adult that can help them in every situation, such as driving in a neighborhood, main roadway, highway, and freeway. Having them drive long distances builds their confidence and esteem to continue operating a vehicle. The next step is gaining their license and taking the rest of the driver’s education course. They must pay attention and understand each task it explains as it prepares one for what they may soon experience on the road. The last step is being a defensive driver once they obtain their license, which means one is practicing using the driving strategies provided to minimize risk to accidents and predicting hazards on the road.

I have had a personal experience within my family of a driver who was not practicing defensive driving and showed they were not responsible enough to be in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. In 2014, my two cousins and my aunt were in their car in Lumberton, Texas, on their way home from moving her oldest child Connely into an apartment as she came back home from North Dakota. My fifteen-year-old cousin Courtney was driving to obtain highway hours and my aunt was in the passenger seat guiding her. My twenty-year-old, eight-months pregnant cousin Connely was in the back seat. They were one exit away from home, and as they neared the exit a red Camaro unexpectedly came from behind and crashed into the back of their car going 153 miles per hour, launching my family over three football fields before the vehicles came to a crashing halt. Connely and her baby were killed instantly, Courtney was rendered brain dead, and my aunt broke several ribs, had a massive concussion, and her stomach burst through her diaphragm and was sitting on completely collapsed lungs. They were all rushed to the hospital in Beaumont and the woman that crashed into them came out with hardly a scratch. Her words were “I was only going that fast to test out my car.” Connely arrived at the hospital DOA, but Courtney was prepared for organ donation following several medical tests that indicated she wouldn’t survive. On February 5, 2014, Southwest Transplant Alliance prayed over her body as they wheeled her into the operating room to harvest her organs to support saving five individuals lives that lived near the Dallas area. When my mom sat me and down and told me about this, I was in disbelief and was shocked that she would even say this. As a second grader, I felt she was trying to trick me, but when I saw the tears start to stream down her face, I knew she was telling me the truth and that my cousins were truly gone. It has been ten years since the accident, and my aunt is doing well. God placed his hand on her and told her it wasn’t her time yet. With this experience, I was forced to grieve an unimaginable tragedy of the family I cherished and looked up to at such a young age. This level of heartache is like none other and the entire tragedy and multiple blessings from the organ donation has changed my life forever.

Being a safe driver means being attentive on the road and learning that we must be aware of how we feel as a person getting into the driver’s seat and ensuring we do not endanger others on the road. I can be a safe driver by recognizing how my body feels and if I feel I am too fatigued to drive, I ask my parents to drive me. The ratio of deaths each year will significantly decreased if we all do our part to be safe on the road. Driving is a privilege and something that must be earned.