In the Driver’s Seat

In my experience, driver’s education was important. For one, I needed to do it to learn how to drive, and not just in the parking lot, but I did learn important things about being a safe driver, not just someone who can drive. I’ve already heard multiple times about how you can’t text while driving in school, but I never truly understood it until I went to drivers ed. When I first started the class, we started with the basics, like rules at intersections and stop lights, and tracking. It was definitely helpful because then you’d know how far you must stay away from other cars, and how to safely drive through intersections, but what was more important came later. We started a series called ‘Almost There.’ It was created by college students who were trying to promote safety with driving. We would watch an episode every few days, but it was probably the part of the class I remember most. It was pretty much about a group of teenagers who were driving, but the driver went to check her phone and while they weren’t paying attention, everyone got into a car accident. The show mostly focused more on the aftermath, showing how the accident impacted everyone’s lives. Many of the people were seriously injured, and the driver was guilty for a very long time. Eventually, some of the parents got her imprisoned, since their son, who wasn’t buckled, got killed. Showing this film in drivers education was definitely important because you can give people random statistics, but most would forget it within a few days. Since this show has relatable characters, who are a similar age group to the young drivers, people would remember it more, like me. I watched this show almost five months ago, but I still remember it clearly, because it shows that it can happen to anyone. If I never took driver’s education, I would probably be more reckless because when you’re driving, you don’t really think about just how fast you’re going, and just how dangerous it is. One thing from a Kurgzekasagt video that stuck with me was the fact that you’ll likely pass a full football field in length while just looking at your phone for a few seconds. Also, the amount of momentum in the car makes it like a torpedo. After taking driver’s education, it has taught me to be more cautious while driving. It taught me that you’re not really invincible, and that you’re just moments away from potentially killing yourself. I definitely feel that it was important for drivers education to teach everyone that because being more cautious makes everyone safer. People spend so much time driving that even being 99% safe is not good enough because it’s only a matter of time before you get into that bad situation.

When it comes to taking steps to minimize deaths related to driving, I feel that teaching people the dangers of speeding and being distracted in a way that relates to them is the best. You can tell people not to text or drive too fast, but you can’t be with them every moment since they’ll go on their own. If you show them something they’ll remember, they’ll think about it more, like I do, and be more careful. Also, making it so that people actually know how to drive would help. Now since I know the rules, I can’t help but notice when other people don’t. Any example of not following the rules is bad because it makes the driver unpredictable. People drive too fast that if someone messes up, even if it is slowing down when you generally shouldn’t, can cause an accident since people can’t react fast enough. I’d say that the best way to do this is to make sure driver’s education is good enough to meet the safety expectations of the road. Also, something that I see that I like is that there are signs, at least in my area, to remind people of the dangers of speeding and being distracted.

When it comes to me, I’m lucky that pretty much everyone I know drives safely, but every time the driver texts, it does stress me out a tiny bit, knowing what I do from driver’s education. Also, one thing that I hope will happen is that as I get more comfortable driving, I stay cautious. I’ve caught myself trying to push the boundaries at times more recently, but I will make sure to remind myself that I can’t get too comfortable because all it takes is one mistake.