Ways to Educate Drivers

Safe driving and driver’s education can be the result of a life. Everyday people are injured or die due to car accidents and some of those are preventable. Education for prevention is fundamental in providing ways someone can be careful while driving. As we have all been young, dumb teenagers once, I am safe to assume we have all made some questionable decisions while driving whether that is blowing through a yellow light or pulling a “no cop, no stop”. Driver education is crucial to prevention of deaths due to car accidents. While thankfully the car accident I was in did not injure me or any others involved, it was a result of irresponsible driving. The guy behind me was on his phone while driving and hit the back of my car at a red light resulting in me needing my entire bumper replaced. The accident was totally preventable yet caused by illegal use of a cellular device. Cell phone use while driving in Ohio is illegal and we need to get better at putting our phones down. Another example of a preventable car accident would be the one my sister was involved in. She decided to hang out with some friends one Friday night and her and her friends ended up being a product of a preventable accident. Her male friend was driving and was on his phone and crashed his car into the side of the road, where all four airbags deployed. Luckily, she was buckled up and was fine with minor scrapes and cuts, the driver ended up needing to be taken to the hospital due to having a concussion. There is two big take aways here I trust could have prevented this accident. One of those being my sister could have asked the driver to put their phone down for the sake of her safety and their own. While speaking up may have made her nervous or anyone nervous if they were in this situation, it is the right thing to do regardless of the person. Next, had the driver not been on his phone, this accident would have never happened. Once again, another example of how phones and other cellular devices cause accidents. Education, specifically, personal stories and anecdotes of people who are a direct result of an accident similar can share their story to educate people the true damage being on a phone while driving is. I believe the many tactics currently used such as commercials or signs as people drive down the highway have been effective, but another way could be direct contact with teenagers learning to drive or those who recently have obtained their license. Particularly, policemen or other educators could attend schools and present an interactive lesson on ways to prevent accidents and methods to be a safe driver. Presenting to a classroom of students can be effective because for starters, it gets them out of class one day, which many students would be happy about that. Secondly, providing an interactive lesson for students is an entertaining way to get the message across. Also, even though driver’s education is required for people who have their temps and are trying to get their license, there are two methods of obtaining the driver’s education. One of those ways is in person at a “school” or you can get the education done via online. If done online, there are many ways young drivers can get around the parameters in place to set “them up for success”. For example, there is a time limit on how many hours per day you are allowed to spend completing the driver’s education. If a person just waits long enough, an arrow will pop up allowing them to click next to move on to the next pages without even actually reading the material. These companies trust young kids to complete the entire education by reading all the provided materials and obtaining the desired scores for the tests, yet in reality the effectiveness by completing online driver’s education and using that information while driving is probably slim to none. Another possibility of making driver’s education more effective could be placing more parameters around the online education or allowing people to complete the education, but taking an in-person exam when it comes time to receive their license. In addition to, people could be made to only attend in person classes, where these classes could be offered at their school after their school day, so parents and guardians would not have to find extra time in their busy schedules to transport their kid but will know their child is receiving proper driver education to help ensure their safety and the safety of those around them. Not only does a reckless driver affect themselves, but also the hundreds to thousands of people they encounter daily.