Driver’s Education

I was recently involved in a traffic accident, so I can tell you how important driver education is. Now, the accident I was involved in was only a small fender bender but it could have been way worse. There could have been so many other things that went wrong and I am lucky they didn’t.

            A group of my friends were going to another town to eat out after school one day and they asked if I wanted to go and if I could drive. I, of course, said absolutely and that I would love to go. The drive there was simple. There were no problems and there wasn’t even very much traffic. We got to the restaurant, got seated, and looked out the window and saw it had started raining outside. At the time I didn’t think that was a big deal because I had driven in the rain before. After eating, we all piled back into the vehicle and got ready to go home. The rain was pouring down heavier now, and it was a little difficult to see down the road. As, we got closer to our hometown, which was thirty miles away from the restaurant, the rain just kept coming down heavier and visibility kept getting worse and worse. There was a vehicle behind me, and I couldn’t see how close they were or the type of vehicle it was. The only thing I could see was their headlights in my rearview mirror.

I thought they were a long way away from me. As I drove into town, I could barely see the lines that separated the two lanes, and I veered a little too far over to the left. Turns out the vehicle was right behind me. They honked their horn, but before I could react to move back into my lane, I hit the front of their vehicle with the rear end of mine. I pulled over to inspect the damage and see what the people I hit wanted to do. The entire right side of my rear bumper was broken, it was hanging on by just a few pieces. Luckily, not very much damage was done to the other vehicle and we were able to find a solution that everyone agreed to.

            While the accident I was involved in wasn’t too terrible, it could have been way worse. For example, someone could have been severely injured, or it could have been a semi-truck that I hit. All that being said, my friends and I were extremely lucky.

            Since I live in Kansas, I was able to get a learner’s permit at the age of fourteen. This was required before I could get my full license. To get my learner’s permit, I was required to take a driver’s education course. The course was in two parts. A classroom part where we took a bunch of written tests, and a driving part where I took the actual driving test. I didn’t mind taking the driving test mostly because I really liked my instructor, but at the time I hated taking the written license tests. There was seventeen different tests and it took an entire week to complete all of them. Now when I think about it, I’m glad that I took all of those tests, because they taught me a lot of safety tips and how to drive properly.

There are many steps I can take to be a better and safer driver. They are mostly simple and easy things, like paying attention to the road and my surroundings. I could also make sure that everyone else in the vehicle is wearing a seatbelt. That way they are less likely to be injured in an accident. These are all things that everyone can do, and I think they are steps that everyone should take to ensure a safer driving environment and minimize the risk of an accident occurring.

I feel like most people you talk to say that driver education isn’t really something that’s important. I completely disagree. Driver Education is one of the most important things you could be educated about because you never know when you could end up in a situation where it might save your life. Like myself, for example, I absolutely did not plan on getting in an accident. In fact, it was something I had never even thought about. I think being an educated driver helped me minimize the damage that occurred. And I think that’s something people don’t think about. This education that you get when you’re fourteen or fifteen, helps you throughout the rest of your life. That is why I believe driver education is extremely important to everyone who wants to drive a vehicle.