The Most Important Tool

Abigail Reeves

Youth Forward Scholarship

29 November 2020

The Most Important Tool

Motor vehicles have been getting equipped with all sorts of new tools in recent years. From technology that will park the vehicle for you, to touch screen technology that was only thought to be for phones, vehicles are becoming more technologically advanced than ever before. But no matter how many technological tools are installed into a vehicle, the most important tool is not something that can be installed by a machine or is technologically advanced. Driver’s education is an incomparably powerful resource that will not only get drivers out of tough situations, but help them to avoid it all together.

Driver’s education is often looked at as an easy A grade class in high school. In some ways, this is true. But once you get past all the simplistic tests and cheesy public service announcements, driver’s education can help prevent driving deaths by teaching students how to avoid them in the first place. Driver’s education teaches young drivers all of the risks of the road and how to be aware of each of them. If the driver knows how to avoid running a red light or missing a turn in the first place, then the chances for a deadly accident decrease exponentially. Everything and anything can be a hazard on the road, so it’s important that driver’s are prepared for every circumstance.

But there are some things that even the best education cannot prevent. It’s the type of education you get for free from those you are constantly around. Friends and family can influence how you drive as well. For example, my father isn;t the safest person when it comes to driving. For example, he speeds up at yellow lights, takes turns a little too fast, and I’ve witnessed him get a speeding ticket more times than I should have. Regardless of how others around you drive, it’s up to you to use the education you received and put it to use.

A few things I did to implement safe driving habits as soon as possible was turn my phone onto airplane mode when I got in the car and made bets with my father to see who could drive the safest. While the latter is definitely an unorthodox method, it still made me want to be a safer driver. For example, whenever my father or myself made a turn over twenty miles per hour, we would owe the other person twenty dollars. We still do it to this day, and it has definitely made me become a safer driver as well as more frugal with how I handle my money.

Driver’s education is a simple but effective way to make the roads safer for everyone. However, it is up to the driver to ultimately decide whether to utilize this knowledge or not. I feel that we should all find a reason to use this knowledge to our advantage. For me, it was to earn as much money and bragging rights as I could at the expense of my very competitive father. For others, it could be keeping themselves or others safe, avoiding a costly accident, or any plethora of reasons. Whatever your motivation behind driving safely, driver’s education will help young drivers to put that knowledge to good use.