Driver Education Initiative

After seven-months of hard work – and with the support of my driving education program, friends and family – I am finally in the driver’s seat! As a single mom living in suburban Canada, I can share with confidence not only the freedom that becoming a young driver has brought to me and my family, but also the responsibility of being a safe driver for those in and out of my vehicle.

I can attest that professional, licensed, driver education programs played a critical role for me in developing the confidence to be able to obtain my license and pursue my education and career as a licensed paralegal in Canada. But while driver’s education has had an impact on my life, it has much greater impacts for society at large. On a daily basis behind the wheel, I can see that driver education programs play a significant role in reducing the number of injuries, accidents and deaths on the roads in my community.

The Impact of Driver Education on Canadian roads

Despite a recent uptick in 2022, the overall trend line since 2003 has been down with respect to fatalities on Canadian roads, all while the country has experienced substantial population growth. I believe a key contributing factor to this downward trend has been the impact of driver education in several ways (explored further below): improving the skills of young drivers, winter/wet weather driving, development of defensive driving skills, and increased awareness of road safety.

Improving the Skills of Young Drivers: There is no question that driver education programs significantly enhance the driving skills of new drivers. While I am a textbook learner, the driver education program I participated included both the theory and the practice that was critical for me to obtain my license. I learned about real-life driving scenarios, from traffic circles (common in my community), merging onto highways, parallel parking (uphill and downhill), and everything in between.

Winter/Wet Weather Driving: Living in Canada, we know a thing or two about living in a cold climate. With temperatures that can fall below 10 degrees Celsius in the dead of winter, driving in cold, snowy and icy weather is a key and critical skill that I learned through my driver’s education program. Snow, rain, black ice – these are all very important skills that driver’s education has provided me – but is sadly not always practiced by others on the roads around me.

Defensive Driving Skills: Defensive driving skills were an important part of my driver’s education program. Defensive driving is all about anticipating potential hazards by other drivers, pedestrians, animals that enter the roadway, weather, road conditions, before they happen.

Increased Awareness of Road Safety: Finally, I believe that my driver education programs create a deep awareness of road safety. While I am fortunate to have never experienced a car accident, media is dominated by news stories around fatalities and injuries. But what is different is that driver education programs take the news stories, theory and put it into practice behind the wheel, so that learners like me have a direct understanding of traffic laws, the dangers of impaired driving (and what to look for on the road), seat belts, and other measures. All of this contributes to fewer road accidents.

Steps to Reduce Driving-Related Fatalities

In addition to driver education programs, there are many things that drivers, governments and communities can do to reduce driving-related injuries and fatalities.

Cell phone bans: In many jurisdictions, governments have taken steps and imposed significant fines on drivers that also use their cellphone when driving. It is a significant and serious distraction, although these measures have begun to reduce this behaviour.

Other Distractions: While cell phones may be a top challenge, there are other things that can cause distraction, injury or death. This includes car touchscreens (if a car requires on screen touch to change wayfinding), eating, or engaging in any activity that takes the driver’s focus off the road, and what’s around them. On a personal basis, if I need to wayfind, I set up my phone and Bluetooth to do that before we move.

Tire pressure: Before I get into my car, I always take a quick look to make sure my tires are full (and not sagging), as a blown tire while driving can cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Seat Belts: While it has been the law in Canada – and other jurisdictions – for some time, seat belt use is #1 before I even hit ignition – for me and all passengers in my vehicle. The evidence to demonstrate that seat belts save lives is overwhelming, as well as ensuring that child seating is correctly and appropriately installed.

Two car lengths: I use the two car lengths rule when driving on highways, to ensure that I have enough of a buffer in case of an unforeseen measure taken by the driver ahead of me.

Left lane passing, right lane driving: For highway driving, I follow the “left lane passing, right lane driving” rule which ensures that passing traffic can get ahead of me, and reduces lane changes around my vehicle by other drivers.

Staying alert: There is no question that fatigue can impair driving ability as much as alcohol. For me, I ensure that I am well-rested before getting behind the wheel and take regular breaks during longer trips.

Conclusion

Driver education has not only allowed me the freedom to get around my city, and provide me with life-long driving skills, but it will also allow me to attend university this fall. I have been accepted and am enrolled to study at a university in September 2024, which I could not do without obtaining my license (because of my proximity to the university). My driver education program was a critical part in helping me along to this next step in my journey. But while it’s had an important impact on my life, driver education has also had significant and important impacts on Canadian roads by reducing driving fatalities over the last 20 years. As drivers, we all have a responsibility to make our roads safer, and driver education is an essential tool in fulfilling that responsibility.