Driver Education Initiative

Everyday we get on the road and drive to school, work, or home and I used to take that for granted. That all changed the night my fiance woke me up to tell me that our best friend, Max, had died in a motorcycle accident and our other friend, Jason, had to identify his body. Max died less than 5 minutes from his house and we found out that he was hit by a driver who was distracted and didn’t notice that the light turned red. I know personally how important it is that we focus on educating drivers to make sure that everyone’s loved ones stay safe. There’s no way to bring my friend back but there are ways that I and everyone else can help make the roads safer.

One of the main things that we can do to help is to educate the public before they ever get behind the wheel. In Colorado you are not required to take a drivers education course if you are over 16 years old. It has been shown that drivers who took a drivers ed class were less likely to be in an accident and also less likely to get a ticket for violations. I took a driver’s ed when I was 15 and to this day I still use lessons that I learned in that course. The course itself not only helped me learn the laws but also helped me realize why I needed to learn those laws. In a lot of driving courses they also teach you how to drive in different conditions and how to keep yourself and others safe in dangerous road conditions. I learned how to control my vehicle if it were to hydroplane and I also learned the safest ways to drive in the rain and snow. Although these can seem like little things, knowing these can help prevent accidents and deaths. It also can help you protect yourself from the injury of the crash.

There are many steps that we can take to help reduce the number of deaths related to car accidents. First, making sure that your car is in working order can be one of the best methods to prevent accidents. There are roughly 44,000 accidents that are caused by part malfunction or degradation. Making sure that breaks,lights, and other essential pieces are properly taken care of can help reduce crashes. Another thing that can help is getting people to protect themselves. Wearing a seatbelt while in a car has saved hundreds of lives. Distracted driving is also another major issue that we need to fix. Talking on the phone or texting both reduce your ability to focus on the road and caused 368 deaths in 2022 alone. Acknowledging the distractions and fixable causes of accidents can help reduce deaths by a considerable amount.

Even though I have never been in a car accident I’ve seen how they can change people’s lives. I think that we have also all seen someone we care about who has unsafe driving practices. My mother has a bad habit of getting distracted on long car trips or drifting into the other lane. I have friends who have gotten DUIs and other friends who have driven for months with brake lights out. My grandfather refuses to wear his seatbelt in the car and actually has it connected around his seat so he doesn’t have to listen to the dinging of the car. I know that probably everyone I know has gone over the speed limit at least once. It’s important to remember that no one is perfect and we can’t expect everyone to follow every rule and make no mistakes while driving. But identifying these mistakes and correcting those we care about can help save their lives and others in the future.

Everyone can do something to become a safer driver. I know for a fact that I’m not perfect and I make many mistakes on the road. I have a habit of speeding that I need to work on. I like to drive fast but I know that every time that I do I’m putting myself and anyone who rides with me at risk. I also have a tendency to get distracted while driving with scenery or things going on around my car. I have been paying extra attention to this as of recently and have started to make myself aware of when I am zoning out and correct it. I also work 2 jobs as well as 2-3 other odd jobs and I’m going to school full time so I also drive tired a lot of the times which I know decreases my awareness and reaction time. I try to be extra aware of what’s going on on the road and to drive slower and give myself even more distance between me and other cars so I have time to react. I think that it’s important to recognize bad behaviors in yourself and others and to have the courage to point them out respectfully.

34,000 deaths a year due to car accidents. I think that with a number that big we can forget what it actually means. That is 34,000 people; mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, friends. Each person who died had a life and families and a lot of accidents could have probably been prevented if the proper steps could have been taken. I can’t bring Max back and that’s something I think about a lot but hopefully by spreading my story and spreading the word on car safety I might be able to save another life.