Driving- The Fatal Pleasure

Driver’s education Essay

“I’ll be home soon, can’t wait for those famous pork chops of yours honey, love you!” James ended the call on his Toyota’s touchscreen monitor. He had a long day at work, and couldn’t wait to get home to see his wife and 7-year-old son. It was his birthday today, and James had bought him a brand new bicycle that he would definitely over. James was coming up onto a 4-way intersection, He stopped at the stop sign and checked in every direction, and didn’t see any cars. On his left, large oak trees blocked his view of the full road, but he didn’t see anyone at the stop sign, so he had the right of way.

Tom was loving his first day driving on the roads. His parents were on a business trip, so he decided to take his dad’s car out for a spin while they were gone, even though he had never taken a driver’s education course. Tom had practiced driving on his Grandparent’s farm all the time, so what was the harm? Tom decided to test the speed of his dad’s Mustang. He was going 90 miles an hour, 50 over the speed limit. Tom saw a four-way intersection coming up, and knew he needed to slow down soon. He didn’t see any cars ahead, and heard a beep from his IPhone. He decided to look down at his phone for a second because he saw a text from his girlfriend. He didn’t read the message, but acknowledged that he saw it. Suddenly, when Tom Looked up, he was already at the intersection, but he hadn’t slowed down yet at all. A Toyota that he couldn’t see because of the trees came out from his right hand side, and was now right in front him. Tom panicked and tried slowing down, but he couldn’t. He hit the Toyota right in the driver’s side door, and lost consciousness. A civilian would find the accident shortly after. Both cars were absolutely totaled, and there was no sign of life coming from either car.

While that story may be fictional, that scenario is a reality for 40,000 Americans every year. Fatal car accidents are among the top killers in the United States, and millions of people are affected by the loss of a loved one every year. With effective driver’s education, accidents like the one described above can be prevented. It’s important to teach students from a young age to be safe and smart drivers. I believe that the driving test must be made more difficult to pass. In the state of Oklahoma, you can lose 30 points and pass a driver’s test. While getting a 70 on a calculus test will not impact your life, not being an extremely competent driver will. A 70 is too low of a passing score for an important test such as a driver’s test. You wouldn’t want to get into a car accident, require surgery, and then have your surgeon announce that he only got 70’s on all of his tests in medical school. I believe the minimum score should be raised to a 90. While it will make the test significantly harder to pass, it will ensure that people spend more time practicing with their family and are ready for the road after their test.

In 2018, my mom was involved in a hit and run accident. It was not serious, no one was hurt except the passenger door, but it was a scary experience that should be avoided. A man pulled out of a car wash, hit my mom’s passenger door, and took off without stopping to exchange insurance. Whether the man was drunk or panicked is unclear, but he committed a crime. In order to improve everyone as driver, we need to have better communication as a society, and understand that accidents are common. 77 percent of Americans will experience at least one accident at some point in their life. If we do get into an accident, we need to stop, and respectfully communicate with whoever was involved without pointing fingers. It does not need to be a scary scenario, it needs to be one that goes smoothly so officers, and all the people involved can get it over with. They should discuss what went wrong, especially if there is a young driver involved, so that they can improve in the future