Importance of Drivers ed

Importance
of Drivers ed in 2020

By
Derek Roofe

Drivers
education has not always been important. But as a reserve police
officer I want to stress how important it really is. I believe the
importance has increased because the development of technology and
the dependence of technology by todays youth. As a police officer I
have seen my share of technology related crashes. If drivers
education focused more on teaching new drivers on the real dangers of
distracted driving I believe it would help limit the number of
traffic related deaths. I also believe that drivers ed can
reduce traffic related deaths by implementing a driving simulator so
new drivers can experience stressful or unexpected events while
driving in a controlled environment to better prepare them for
similar situations in the real world. Another thing that I believe
that would help prevent traffic deaths is by stressing the importance
to young generations of seat belts. Todays drivers believe that they
don’t need to wear seat belts because they don’t believe that a
crash will happen to them. As a police officer the most common ticket
I write is seat belt tickets. I use the encounter to try and educate
the driver of the importance of a seat belt in the case of a crash.

Steps
that can be taken to improve drivers ed to reduce traffic
related deaths are introducing driving simulators to give new drivers
to experience scenarios that usually result in a crash with
inexperienced drivers. With the simulator young drivers can see first
hand in a controlled environment how or how not to respond to
different scenarios. For example the area that I live in gets a lot
of winter weather usually. Teaching young drivers how to drive in
winter weather will aid in reducing crashes. Another example would be
in the case of an animal crosses in front of you suddenly they could
learn how to respond while maintaining control of their vehicle.
These steps in my opinion could drastically reduce traffics crashes
that could potentially be fatal.

I
myself was involved in a car crash due to my own recklessness
fortunately no one was hurt. I was a senior in high school and was
riding around with a few friends and I decided to show off my new
car. I was driving in a industrial park of a late evening no one else
was around. I took a small curve doing about 55 MPH and hit some
loose gravel that caused me to hit a curb. I almost totaled my car I
did $2,000 worth of damage to a car I paid $1,700 for. I was being
extremely irresponsible and could have caused someone to get hurt.
After that I learned I needed to drive more carefully and that
driving was no place to show off.

There
are multiple things that I do to make sure that I am a safe driver. I
try and always maintain a safe distance to the vehicle in front of me
to allow plenty of time to stop in a hurry if need be. I also do not
let myself get distracted by my phone or anything else I try and only
focus on driving. I have a four-year-old son and he likes to learn
about different traffic signs and makes sure to tell me if I have
done something wrong. I try to set a good examples for him so I can
pass on good driving habits when its time to teach him to be a
responsible driver. I make sure to always fasten my seat belt and
others in my car are expected to do the same. I have worked many of
crashes with severe injuries that could have been far less severe if
the occupant was wearing a seat belt. The main point I would make to
young drivers is put down the phone and buckle up its not worth
losing your life over.