Driver’s Education Initiative Essay

Driver’s Education Initiative Essay

A balanced driver education comprised of support/guidance from both parents and certified instructors is principal to facilitating the new driver’s development, thus creating safer road trips and driving experiences throughout the nation’s roadways. According to the CDC, the lack of suitable experience/maturity, knowledge, and judgement while navigating the roads, is one of the leading elements that constitute the multitude of teen driver’s crashes. This assertion can mainly be attributed to a lack of familiarity with converting concepts studied within the handbook to practice, such as: swiftly checking blind spots, judging safe distances, and communicating with other drivers, especially while turning or at intersections/four-way stops. All of the previous risk factors will result in new/teen drivers enacting hazardous errors, giving rise to increased teen motor vehicle collisions and deaths.

Unfortunately, many of these motor vehicle tragedies are avertible with the suitable implementation of defensive strategies when navigating the roadway. These steps can be accomplished by first buckling their seatbelts, vital due to the majority of roadway casualties in the ages of 16-19 resulting from a lacking seatbelt. Secondly, inexperienced drivers should abstain from travelling with multiple passengers and avoid drowsy/distracted driving, for numerous carpoolers can unnecessarily divert focus/attention, which should be on the road. In the event of being unsuitable physically or mentally, the driver should request that another person drives them to their locations. Expectedly, it is crucial to refrain from intoxicated driving, reducing 58% of deaths in the age group of 15-20. These measures of caution can be further supported by attending a local driving school to garner the best understanding of traffic law/violations and how to operate on the roadway, with the assistance of a trained instructor. Additionally, local/state laws can provide further aid to prevent the numerous casualties by enforcing/emphasizing the seriousness of seatbelt laws and penalizing drunk/intoxicated drivers, thus setting a precedent for the future.

The importance of proper driver education was never more abundantly emphasized than in a personal experience with a car accident. In the incident, a truck driver was waiting at a stop sign in a T-Intersection and chose to scan the vehicle’s left/right sides prior to deciding to enter the road. As a result of forgetting to scan left once more before advancing, the driver hit an oncoming SUV with a family of five inside, which included myself. Fortunately, there were no significant injuries in the accident beyond soreness/cuts/bruises; however my family’s SUV was completely destroyed in the collision. Regardless, the entire incident could have been avoided with the appropriate exercising of driver’s education/preventative measures.

In order to improve driving for myself/others, it is essential to consistently review the laws/regulations of the road in the driver’s handbook, check for changes in road laws/regulation, and exercise caution/alertness on the roadway, especially regarding the unexpected actions of other drivers. For the purpose of safely travelling, one must coordinate their actions to account for dangerous situations arising, when operating the vehicle.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/teen_drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html#riskfactors