Making Responsible Drivers: “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”

If
you were anything like me as a sixteen-year-old, gaining the ability
to drive meant having one of the most thrilling freedoms of growing
up. However, like all great freedoms, this one came with tremendous
responsibility. In the words of my Dad, I was being entrusted with
“operating a 2,000-pound death machine”. Unfortunately, there was
more truth to his joke than I knew. Driving is something we do every
day, and it is a great ability we can use and enjoy. It is often easy
to avoid thinking about how dangerous it really is when we or someone
around us are driving carelessly.

What
drivers need to know is that they are taking on a serious
responsibility when they drive, and that the consequences of
neglecting this responsibility can be terrible. Most drivers are
taught this, but fail to keep it in mind or take it seriously enough.
Drivers need to continually be reminded of the risks of careless
behaviors such as using a phone while driving, eating while driving,
driving under the influence, and driving while tired. It is easy to
do these things while choosing not to think about what the
consequences could be. The fact is that the consequences are the loss
of human lives—34,000 lives per
year
according to DmvEdu.org’s statistics. Drivers should be made to
look full in the face of the risk they are taking when they drive
carelessly, and should learn to ask themselves the question, “Is it
really worth it?”

The
only people who can reduce the death toll caused by careless driving
are drivers themselves. Educating these drivers should be treated
like the serious and vital task that it is. The education of drivers
should involve a huge emphasis on the responsibility
that driving is, and the tremendous importance of that
responsibility. This education should vividly present the facts about
driving-related deaths, not to instill fear, but to make drivers face
the reality of their responsibility and of the consequences of
carelessness. Additionally, drivers should be tested on their
knowledge of responsible driving at least as rigorously as on their
knowledge of lawful driving. Finally, drivers ed, especially
for young drivers, should be effective in communicating how
responsible driving is relevant to them and how it applies in the
situations they are familiar with. Drivers ed is the first and
foremost way to make informed and responsible drivers.

It
is not only drivers ed that will help to create responsible
drivers, but also cultivating a cultural value of living responsibly.
This means encouraging those around us—our family members and
friends—to be responsible. It means taking the initiative to be the
example of responsible behavior. It means recognizing and praising
responsible actions. These are the small things we can all do. I can
remind my Dad not to text and drive, or compliment my friend on her
careful driving, and make sure to prioritize safety in my own car.
Saving lives on the road depends on us.