My Experience On Our Roads

Driver’s education is the course that most students in my high school took NOT to educate themselves on how to properly conduct themselves behind a wheel, but to satisfy their online credit requirement in order to graduate. Most kids would pay smarter students to do this class, or search up the answers, but I am not one of those students.

When I took this course, I made sure to pay attention fully. Heading into my sophomore year, I had nothing but time on my hands that summer. Every day, I did one lesson from a module, and was able to finish the course with a very high A. Drivers education is BEYOND important for not only teen drivers, but ALL drivers. Drivers all around the country believe that they are only responsible for their own safety while driving. However, when you get behind that wheel and shift the car into drive, you should be watching out for the safety of EVERYONE that you share the road with. That is how I personally view it, and how I believe everyone should. Our students should pay attention to these courses as they truly do prepare us for the roads and the challenges that we may face on them, and as a result, fewer crashes will occur. This could lower the fatality rate tremendously and truly make our roads a much safer environment.

There are hundreds of steps in my opinion that can be taken to lower the number of deaths that are because of driving. To me though, there are a few that are important above all. My mother got rear ended turning into our neighborhood back in 2021. She just got paid for it now, in 2025. I feel like this needs to be changed. Drivers believe that their actions don’t come with consequences, and if they do, they are very lenient. I feel that not only should accidents be handled much more seriously, as well as on a more timely basis, but infractions like speeding, not stopping at stop signs, and not stopping behind school buses, should ALL be taken much more seriously. I feel that if drivers are held accountable at the base of the “reckless driving” tree, that they would learn from their mistakes and not go so far as to get into a fatal crash. I also believe that another step would be to increase the quantity of officers who are stationed around bars or sports grills late at night, so drunk drivers can be spotted BEFORE they do the drunk driving. While it is not ideal that officers would be watching this, it is a necessary precaution that I believe counties with high drunk driving rates should take in an attempt to lower it, and in turn, lower the amount of deaths that can be a result of it.

In my seventeen years, I have witnessed a very fair share of unsafe driving. From family and friends alike, reckless driving is something that I believe is not taken seriously enough. My friends believe that because we may be late to get somewhere, it is warranted to start speeding. This is NEVER, and should NEVER be the case! Unfortunately, to the teenage generation, speeding and “cutting up” through traffic as I hear it so often referred to on Instagram and TikTok, is considered “cool” and very “advanced.” I don’t think that risking your own life, your passengers, and everyone else on the road’s life is smart AT ALL just for a clip of you slithering in and out of traffic, and I reiterate this to my friends almost every time they try it. It is unsafe and beyond scary, and it should also be something that is viewed as a bigger ticket.

I believe that we all can take extra steps to be better drivers. I personally took a huge step back in April, when I got my first and ONLY ticket. I was going 57 in a 50 zone and got pulled over, and I could have just paid my ticket. However, I knew I didn’t want those points, and I also wanted to keep my insurance rate low. Due to these factors, I elected to do the four hour driving school, which I completed the same night at four in the morning with an A. I help those around me be safer by reminding them speeding may get them closer to their destination, but it could also get them closer to a fatal crash.