Driver Education: Developing Proactive vs. Reactive Driving Safety Habits

 According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, persons under the age of eighteen, seeking to obtain a Virginia drivers license, must complete a commonwealth-approved driver education program that includes a behind-the-wheel component. Within Loudoun County Public Schools, a formal driver education program is in place at most high schools, and I fulfilled the Virginia DMV requirement through enrollment in such a program in my sophomore year. This program has helped me to be proactive in my responsibility to safe driving.

Through formal driver education, I was able to learn many best-practices that drivers should take to ensure the safety of themselves, their passengers, and other drivers on the road. Before getting behind the wheel, drivers should ensure that their vehicles are properly maintained. For example, the functionality of headlights and indicators should be ensured, and tires should be inspected for deficiencies and adequate pressure. Additionally, drivers are responsible to ensure that all vehicle occupants have seatbelts engaged and securely fastened. Finally, drivers must avoid speeding, improper lane changes, and failure to stop and posted stop signs and red lights.

The course was very inciteful and, coupled with a personal car-accident experience in middle school, really solidified my belief that formal driver education is essential to reducing the number of driving related deaths.

The driver education program included a 90-minute video presentation that has truly stuck with me, especially considering my own experience as a passenger in a multi-vehicle collision. The video provided statistics and examples which helped me to realize just how fortunate I was to have walked away from the collision in which I was involved. Allow me to illustrate.

In middle school, I was involved in many extra-curricular sporting activities to which my parents often had to drive. On one particular day, while heading home from sports, two teammates and I were buckled securely into the back seat of my father’s car, as he drove us all home from the event. I remember very clearly that there were quite a lot of other cars on the road, but this is a very common thing in Northern Virginia, so I didn’t think anything of it while my friends and I continued to laugh and joke during the ride. Suddenly, the car slowed down, and I could see that my dad was coming to a stop behind a line of other cars that appeared to be clogging up the exit lane of the highway. In the rear-view mirror, I saw my dad’s eyes widen, and then our car jumped forward and smashed into the car that we’d just stopped behind. My dad immediately checked to make she that my friends and I were unhurt, and then he exited the car to check on the people in the other vehicles. I don’t remember much after that, but I do recall that the car which crashed into the back of ours while we were stopped was being driven by a teenage boy who had only just gotten his drivers license one week before. I always remembered that, and it was a motivational factor in my desire to take drivers education seriously.

Since that experience, and through anecdotal experiences and advice from friends and family members, I have tried to stay mindful of the efforts that I can actively take to be a good driver and avoid the risks associated with other drivers who may not be so good. One of the first example efforts that comes to mind, because my family lives in a more rural region of northern Virginia, is to stay mindful of animals, especially deer. I have seen so many deer carcasses on the sides of the country roads, along with bits of broken plastic and glass from the vehicles that hit them, and I also remember a few occasions where deer have seemed to come from thin air and dash right in front of moving cars. Another example is to always be mindful of posted speed limits and not rely on the accuracy of GPS to notify you of speed limit changes. The speed limits on country roads can reduce drastically as you approach town limits, and the varies municipalities of rural Virginia have adopted measures, such as large speed-humps to enforce compliance with these regulated changes in speed. Finally, because of the rear-collision accident that I experienced, I would recommend that drivers avoid distractions, stay vigilante in scanning ahead, always leave a distance of at least one vehicle length between their own car and the car in front of them when coming to a stop. This ensures that there is space to adapt and maneuver in rapidly changing traffic conditions.

These efforts, and certainly many others, should be considered good practice for all drivers in avoiding and helping t prevent dangerous driving situations. Sadly, too many drivers are forced to react from experiencing dangerous and/or deadly situations that could have been avoided. Rather than being a reactionary, all drivers should be focused on developing and maintaining a proactive approach to safety behind the wheel. There is truly no better way to learn and develop this practice than through participation in a formal drivers education program.