The Secret to Safe Driving

The Secret to Safe Driving

Make a complete and safe stop at stop signs and at red lights, adjust your mirrors and your seat before driving, check around the car for any hazards before driving, use your turn signals for turning: these are all things that every driver should know on the back of their hand. They are the textbook driving rules; but how could a driver ever know these to be the classic textbook rules if they have never learned to drive with a textbook, in a classroom setting?

Driver education ensures that new drivers are able to employ safe driving methods on the road and in result, reduces the number of deaths related to driving. A driver’s education curriculum provides students with a basis of mechanical knowledge and allows for students to focus on developing their modes of observation and problem-solving while being on the road so that they can not only be knowledgeable, but also conscious before they become fully-independent and licensed drivers. The checklist for car maintenance, for example, can be whittled down to: make sure your brakes work properly, tires are sufficiently inflated, and wipers and defrosters are in working condition. While important, it’s also important to realize that operating a vehicle does not solely consist of these “driving checklists;” another crucial aspect of learning to operate a vehicle is the driving task, and how well a driver can execute it. Driver education allows students to internalize the mechanical side of driving, or the “driving checklists,” and provides a basis for drivers to build their ability to be conscious in the driving task.

However, even for the conscious aspect of driving, there are checklists. Avoid distractions, drive rested, focus on the driving task, make sure your music is set before driving. Insist that passengers wear their seat belts, go the speed limit, anticipate problems, avoid texting and calling while driving. But, there is one simple, solid guideline that lies beneath these checklists. It is to drive for others.

Drive for others by avoiding driving for selfish reasons. Instead of choosing to drive home while drowsy because you want to sleep in your bed, rest on the side of the road or avoid driving for that night so that somebody else may make it home to rest in their bed. Instead of feeding into the gratification of receiving a text message and responding to it, wait until you get home so that the person who sent you the text message does not have to mourn another driving-related death. Insist on your passengers wearing their seat belts not because you fear getting a ticket, but because you care that they are safe in the possibility that a crash does occur.

The best thing to internalize when wanting to become a safe driver is the safety and wellbeing of others.