Driver Education Initiative Awareness Scholarship – Kennedy Keylor

Education is the first step. It must be the first step if we wish to inspire change. Education provides a place to build awareness, without it, nothing would be accomplished. Awareness provides understanding of the effects of a person’s actions, which is what inspires change. If people are not aware, they are unable to realize any need for their unhealthy behaviors to change.

This logic pertains to many instances, but in particular, driving education, where awareness and understanding can significantly reduce accidents and save lives. Many teenagers in America do not receive driver’s education, and because of this many are unaware of the importance of safe driving. Without taking driver’s education, many new adolescent drivers can be intimidated by driving and because of this drive in a potentially harmful manner, even without meaning to. According to a new report, “more than one in five U.S. teens never received driver’s education before getting their licenses” (Grens). This large number highlights the significant lack of essential safety education for adolescents. The amount of adolescent vehicular accidents is astounding, and it remains the leading cause of death for teens ages 15 to 20 (NHTSA). This is largely due to a lack of proper education, something that can be solved with more widespread access of driver’s ed. I truly believe that if more adolescents received driver’s education the amount of deaths would decrease dramatically. By becoming aware of how to stay safe while driving and what they can do to decrease their risk of getting in an accident, the severity of these statistics could be significantly lessened.

Driver’s education has shown that it has the ability to reduce fatalities and accidents. According to studies, “Driver education is associated with a lower incidence of both crashes and convictions – reducing crashes by 4.3 percent and convictions by nearly 40 percent” (Gross). This is due to the fact that many new adolescent drivers who navigate the road are highly unaware of the correct and safe way to manage it. Driver’s education provides an outlet very similar to a classroom (which allows adolescents to adjust to it quite easily), in which they can learn all that they need to know about what to do when on the road.

Before taking driver’s education, I had felt that I was a pretty decent driver (for what little driving I did do), but driver’s education truly solidified my confidence in my ability to be a good driver. It provided me with the tools and advice I needed to know when on the road. I felt confident in my understanding of the legal side of driving and what rules I needed to follow, as well as understanding the hands-on part of driving and navigation. The class itself was super engaging and catered to many different learning styles. The class included visual, auditory and hands-on elements that gave me a really balanced understanding from multiple different perspectives. I was able to complete my course over the summer, which allowed me to really focus on it without the anxiety of school as well. The driving lessons allowed me to truly practice what I was learning; it gave me that hand-on push I needed to practice driving in a way that was completely safe. It provided a comprehensive education in the driving world, and this has allowed me to be an exceptionally safe driver. Since taking the course I have not had an instance where I felt unsafe while driving, and for that I am truly grateful.

Driver’s education was such an eye opening experience for me, I learned so much through my time in that classroom. I hope that many other individuals can come to understand the importance of safe driving. Not only for themselves but also for all the other individuals they are sharing the road with. Driver’s education has the potential to save countless lives by equipping teenagers with information and skills that they need to drive safely. By making driver’s education more accessible, we can reduce accidents, decrease fatalities, improve adherence to the law, and ensure the roads are safer for all who drive on them. It is imperative that we prioritize this education to protect others and create a place of safety on the road. I hope that we come to understand how to all become safer drivers. Adolescent deaths that result from driving are truly so tragic and my hope is that we do all that we can as a society to prevent those deaths. I believe driver’s education is the necessary first step to inspire that change and keep us all much safer.