Baby Driver

To downplay the importance of drivers Ed is to downplay over a century of trial and error forged through blood. In 1913 Henry Ford introduced the assembly line. Allowing the mass production of automobiles and in turn the mass use of these early vehicles in public settings. It was made clear, very quickly, to even those early motorists that educating these drivers, and installing countermeasures would be necessary if automobiles were to be the way of the future. From 1910s to 1920s early drivers Ed courses were being taught. In the 1930s traditional drivers Ed as we know it was taught wide spread. Educating our drivers is and always has been essential to ensuring the safety of our roadways.

When it comes to driving we are overwhelmed not by the complexity of information around us but by the amount. I find it self-evident that we are not born with the understanding of the various legal, functional, and technical processes that take place as we drive. No, we must be taught these things, and then they must be practiced time and time again. However, simply Saying this does not provide us with a solution. A common problem in our communities is that people have no idea how to access resources surrounding safe driving. An example of this would be how in 2020 over three-quarters of caregivers, when prompted to restrain a doll in either seatbelt or harness, had errors in their work. Benedick et al. (2020). It should be noted that these caregivers knew that correct child restraints was important, they simply lacked the confidence in their ability to correctly use the restraints. Confessing difficulty understanding instruction and other barriers. I myself have had to help relatives fix errors and understand those errors when they secured children in car seats. It might seem easy to blame these caregivers as simply ignorant but when studies find that 46% of car seats in the U.S. had major installation errors placing blame doesn’t help fix the problem. Something that does help is programs and courses. Whether national, regional, or local programs help people fix these errors and be safer drivers. This may seem specific and trivial but information like this **does** prevent deaths. I myself have a baby cousin. Knowing how to properly secure her every time I drive without making errors can be the difference between seeing her smile again and having to live with the consequences of my ignorance. Small essential errors like this are found in more than just how people secure their children. It’s in how they drive, what they understand while driving, and how they think while driving. Education plainly helps with all of this and in turn helps prevent deaths.

On the morbid topic of deaths we must discuss drunk and distracted driving. Both drunk and distracted drivers are responsible for tens of thousands of fatal deaths per year. With drunk driving alone accounting for a third of all fatal car crashes, and that’s not even counting non-fatal crashes. While I believe that drunk or distracted driving is incredibly selfish and dangerous. I’m of the belief that these drivers themselves and those around them do not understand just how harmful their actions are. If we are to prevent these drivers from getting behind the wheel and hurting themselves or others then we must communicate to them the true consequences of their actions. Informing the public of the dangers of impaired driving already helps to make a society that consideres impaired driving unacceptable. Reducing drinking and keeping those on substances away from the wheel helps prevent deaths as well. Drivers Ed should be not only a library of resources for how to do good, but also a warning on the devastation caused when things go bad. Because there are people who have lived with that devastation. People who have to live with what that devastation did to them every day. At the end of the day I believe we must make drunk and distracted drivers connect to what their actions entail. Because I believe that fundamentally most people do not want the to hurt people, but intentions are meaningless when we see the harm and consequences caused by our actions.

In a car centric country like the U.S. it is essential that we drive home the importance of education day in and day out. If people have the resources and knowledge on how to do better then they will. But without those resources we are doomed to cause harm in our ignorance. Driver Education is one massive leap forward in clearing that ignorance for the better of our communities world wide.