The Distinction of Automobile Safety

Driver Education.

The hallmark event of every person’s upbringing. When a young adult takes their first steps to the freedom of adulthood. With such a momentous endeavor, it is implied that the preparations and teaching are to be sufficient for an individual to drive safely and successfully. Despite what is expected, reality tells a much different story. Aside from the ghastly statistics, it is clear to me even when riding with my peers that a proper drivers education is required in order for a mindful user of the roads to be cultivated.

I got a driver’s license comparably later than my friends, so I have had years of experience riding with drivers of all calibers. Between the geriatric snails to the volatile daredevils, the defining factor that contributes in determining if a driver is safe or unsafe is their drivers education. Based on what they actually learned and took from their time first learning how to get behind the wheel, a driver either increased or decreased their tendencies to cause risk while operating a motor vehicle. Educated drivers are consequently safe drivers because they are more aware of the plethora of risks and dangers that come with driving.

Ensuring the cultivation of safe drivers in order to reduce the number of deaths related to driving starts from the very beginning. A government can implement more rules and regulations regarding driving but it is much more effective to tackle the problem individually. Some vital steps that can aid to the upbringing of risk-free drivers include a supportive community for the learner and an adaptive teaching curriculum that not only covers all of the necessary information but also adapts to best teach the student in a way that is most comprehensive to them. A supportive community provides the drivers with not only tried and true tips to driving, but also accountability as the student takes in a catalogue of new information and needs ways to stay on top of their studies. Additionally, an adaptive teaching curriculum goes hand in hand with a supportive community as everyone has a specific way of learning that is unique to their own processing system. Whether you are a visual, auditory or practical learner, finding ways to personalize your drivers education experience is vital to ensure you are fully knowledgeable of all there is to driving. While making the streets completely safe from err drivers is impossible, taking the necessary steps to bring about a new generation of mindful drivers can be the change that is needed to lower the number of traffic-related deaths in the nation. Learning how to drive is a holistic process as it does not simply require someone to just look at a textbook and be suddenly fit to drive. Driving, much like life, is volatile and requires split-second decisions and awareness, skills that can only be made through hands-on personalized practice and support. The ever-changing nature of driving thus makes the learning process all the more difficult. In response, steps, like the ones previously mentioned, are crucial to reducing the number of driving deaths even though they are steps that are often overlooked.

I truly believe that the journey to driver’s safety is a personalized journey because there is only so much that you can do on the road. If an accident happens, it happens no matter who was at fault. Consequently, all that you can really do as a safe driver is ensure that you are driving mindfully and safely. In my career, I have been in three accidents over the span of a single year. Two of those accidents happened when I was on my bike and got hit by a van and another where I was severely rear-ended by a sedan. The common factor to every single one of these “accidents” were that it was all due to the other driver’s negligence and resulted in a hit-and-run. Every single one of these drivers, all seemingly well-established adults, chose to be unsafe, hit a minor with their vehicle and run away. Being a victim to these ordeals, I truly wondered what was wrong with our current drivers that they would be negligent enough to nearly commit vehicular manslaughter to a fellow human being.

Focusing on my second bike-vehicle crash, I was walking on the crosswalk, on my light, where a car suddenly accelerated from its stopped position. The driver, not looking at me as I was right in front of his car, hits my bike straight on and I go flying while my bike is crushed beneath his van. I am on the road, shaken, when the driver takes it upon himself to “access” the situation from his window and take off without stopping. I was taken in an ambulance to the hospital where later I would find out, the negligent crash caused by hereditary back issues to degenerate and I now live with two herniated discs in my lower back with chronic pain at the age of eighteen. Despite my indignation at the injustice of a hit-and-run, I wondered how easily this situation could have been avoided if the driver had been properly educated on the importance of being mindful of the car’s surroundings. Although this can be chalked up to a fluke of the moment, the cowardly actions following the accident shows me that the driver was not properly taught on the emergency response that is required in a vehicular accident. If he had chosen himself to learn and be safer, then the streets could be a bit more safer than it is today.

In conclusion, with my experience riding with peers and experiencing vehicular accidents, the steps needed to ensure that I am a safe and mindful driver for not only myself but for everyone that I share the road with are simple yet profound. I have to do my own part to be a good driver. Whether that be something as simple as not touching my phone while driving to something more complex such as ensuring that I am in a stable state of mind to drive, I can only control my actions when it comes to driving. It is when everyone is collectively mindful of every action taken when driving that the collective risk of driving is substantially lowered, but until then, every single person deciding to be safe when operating their vehicle lowers the probability of consequences of negligent driving and thus lowering vehicular death in our nation.