Drivers Education Initiative

Hello, I will be applying for the Driver Education Initiative Award. Driving safely is extremely important to me because everyone I know drives around me and in my area we have a heavy amount of accidents ranging from small dents to people being hit by a car, but I will explain more of that later.

Driving education classes are important because it teaches beginner drivers the skills and knowledge on how to drive safely and effective. Proper education covers various topics such as understanding what every sign means, traffic laws, defensive driving techniques, and the dangers of being under the influence or driving recklessly. Some steps that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths and accidents when it comes to driving is doing some public awareness campaigns. By running a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of driving reckless such as driving while texting or not wearing a seatbelt, it can spread towards your community and even can raise money to help improve our roads. By improving our roads with safety in mind and being more aware, we can improve the roads such as proper lighting and adding more roundabouts that can reduce the severity of accidents.

The reasons why I have stated those steps to reduce the risk of deaths is because I have had more personal experiences with car accidents. My mother has been in so many car accidents I can’t keep count, and it was because of someone else’s driving. In 2014 my mother and her father were in a vehicle together and while my mother was driving her and her father got into an accident and he passed away shortly after. Because of someone elses driving my mother had to witness her father in that state and will forever deal with that trauma.. In 2018 my mother was five minutes from our home as she was getting off work and a drunk driver hit her causing her to now have a titanium rod in her neck and back. She now has to deal with those pains for the rest of her life because someone decided to drive while being under the influence.

On Novemeber 7 in 2023, my boyfriend was walking back to his house to take care of his grandmother, he was on the side of the road at 6pm when it was slightly dark outside. A person hit my boyfriend going fifty-five in a forty-five and hit him because he wasn’t paying attention to the road, assumingly was on their phone. My boyfriend broke his fibula and tibia and now will forever have a rod in his leg. I have not had stories like these for myself but I assume one in four people have or known someone who has been in an accident because of someone or because of themselves. Friends and family are constantly dying from these accidents and even if they dont die they have to deal with that pain or truama. Ever since I have been driving I have always made sure to understand my surroundings.

Some things I have done to ensure on being a safe driver is always wearing a seatbelt and never looking at my phone. Yes, I use GPS but I have a safety mode on my phone that ensures I don’t need to touch my phone while driving. I also drive the speed limit especially on back roads because we have deer jump out constantly where I am from. Ways that others can be safer is remembering to turn off your brights when another vehicle is in front of you or coming towards you. People tend to forget and it can make it extremely hard to see when your brights are still on. Another way is ensuring you’re using your blinkers and using them appropriately. People have had many accidents due to someone not using their blinkers and tailbone someone and those can sometimes be the worst accidents people can have.

Thank you for taking the time to read my essay. I believe my essay will be beneficial to those who read this and can be more aware of the true dangers that can happen while driving. People always say that those accidents will never happen to them until they do. And with proper education of different environments such as weather, roads, and areas, we can insure a safer future for the upcoming generations and feel safe leaving your home without the constant worry of other drivers negligence.