The Importance of Drivers Education

When you were young what was something you dreamed of doing when you “grew up.” I know in my life I couldn’t wait to start driving. Learning how to drive is a major part of life. Used to it wouldn’t be a big deal to drive because you could just walk there right? Well, a lot of cities now are a good while away from stores and places to eat. So the majority of people have to drive. But how safe is it to drive? That’s the question you should ask yourself every day when you get in a car to drive. You also need to ask yourself am I making it where other people are safe to drive? The Office of University Communications University of Nebraska–Lincoln states “2.1 percent of the driver’s education group was involved in an accident that caused injury or death, compared to 2.6 percent of those who did not take driver’s education.” (Newman 2015).

You might be asking why is this important to driving. This is important to driving because when people are more educated than the average person who just got their license they’re a lot more careful when driving. When you take the course it dives deep into the aspects of driving, what to be on a constant look for, and driver’s etiquette. For example, when you know how far apart you need between you and the car in front of you, it keeps everyone that extra step safer. If you haven’t taken driver’s education you might be wondering how can you be safer while driving. Well, there’s a couple of basic ways. Always make sure that you are at least a car spaced apart from the car in front of you. The reason for this is just in case someone behind you gets into an accident or isn’t paying attention and runs into you, you won’t hit the car in front of you. It makes it where they’re less accidents on the road. You also need to be completely aware of the things around you (aka off your phone!) Being distracted while driving can cause you to move out of your lane which some people might think that’s not too bad. You could always just get over right when you start to go out of the lines right? Well, that little second that you’re distracted and not in your lane could be your last second. In my hometown, a teenage boy was driving down the highway that was on his phone while driving and he went into the lane next to him for a split second. Then a semi came down the lane next to him and unfortunately took that boy’s life that day. Every day there are at least 8 people throughout the United States that pass away from distracted driving. You might be wondering why are you telling me about death and using real stories. Well, showing those real-life examples helps people grasp that distracted driving is a really big deal. It’s not just something your mom tells you “just because”. It’s something that nearly everyone does that puts your life in danger every single day. With that how can we help lower the number from 8 deaths to distractive driving a day to 0? Well, we can put our phones or anything that might distract us somewhere that we can’t reach while driving. Having that distraction away from you can help the temptation of getting on there and getting distracted. We can also encourage the people in our lives to do the same. Even if you’re not old enough to drive or you don’t have a car, educating others on the dangers of distracted driving can save other’s lives as well. Eliminating distractions is the most important way but another way is education on the dangers of drunk driving and the unknown danger of driving on the road with those who are drunk. Every 39 minutes someone around the world dies from drunk driving. Whether they were the ones drinking or not. Educating those on what alcohol does to your brain and your body can help those who think they find it’s only 1 drink. In the same sense, it only takes 1 second to end a person’s life and your future in a drunk driving accident. To prevent drunk driving if you know that you are going to be drinking hide your keys from yourself or whoever is drinking to eliminate the risk of them getting behind the wheel. An example I have is my sister. My sister and her best friend were riding on four-wheelers just having fun. They went across the street and they got hit by a truck. When she came back from being unconscious she was at the hospital. That’s when they told her the person who hit her had been twice over the legal limit. My sister is fine to this day luckily only with a couple of scars. But had she gone out just a second later she would have been gone. We all need to be safe on the road. No matter even if we are educated or not. We all need to be hyperaware of our surroundings at all times. If you take anything from this today take this. Always know what’s going on around you, and listen to your mom when she says don’t text and drive.