Driver’s Ed Never Ends

The number of driving-related deaths is a serious issue in the United States. There has recently been a large push to try and correct these awful statistics, but it has not impacted new drivers as much as it should have. Driver education is crucial, as it forms the new driver’s attitudes and skills for real life driving, and helps new drivers understand their responsibilities for safety on the road. There are multiple ways driver’s education tries to decrease unsafe driving, such as making driver license courses more impactful and personally recognizing how one has flaws when driving.

Driver’s education is crucial to teaching people how to drive the best they can. These videos encourage driving with caution, because driving is a dangerous activity, that is so normalized people may become complacent and ignore the risk associated with driving. Driver’s education now has an even larger task of not only teaching people how to drive, but also to be more aware around vehicles. In this effort, driving educators have one of the hardest and most important jobs in the day and age. Their influence will directly affect how brand-new drivers will use vehicles for the rest of their lives, meaning an entire generation of drivers is being affected by a few people. I can influence the drivers around me on the road by helping them when their headlights are on too high or not at all, or honking a horn to let them know they are drifting out of their lane, and they can do the same for me. In this way, all drivers help each other in learning and growing to make roads a safer place.

Another way to get people to drive safer is to encourage them to look at bad driving habits and learn of the fallout of those actions. Several years ago, my sister got in a car wreck with a Jeep which was being driven by an intoxicated driver. Thankfully, her physical injuries were minor, but after the incident, she experienced a lot of anxiety while driving, especially around Jeeps. I decided that I did not want to inflict that sort of mental pain on another person, which has encouraged me to drive defensively. By me looking at a scenario that affected a family member made me want to choose to drive in a way so someone else will not have to go through the hardships that my sister did. If we could all share our driving stories and how they affected us and our loved ones, this would raise awareness about the problem on roads and all work together to try and make driving a safer activity.

So, when is the time to act? Now! In my home state of Texas, there has been at least one fatality every day on Texas roads since November 2000. In order to raise awareness of this problem, every November TxDOT sponsors a program called End the Streak (#EndTheStreak), with a goal to end this scary streak. We can all implement a week or month dedicated to promoting safe driving practices and to look introspectively at out own driving shortcomings and try to improve as a nation to stop reckless driving.