Driving Educated

Driving Educated

I didn’t want to take a driver education class. I thought it would be a waste of time and an unnecessary expense, that was until I accidentally reversed our family vehicle into our garage wall. After hearing all the horror stories of teens getting into accidents through inexperience, distractions, no seatbelts, alcohol and drugs, excessive speed, etcetera, I had the attitude that “it won’t happen to me.” Did it cause a lot of damage? No, but it was enough for me to realize the importance of driver education, especially to new drivers like me. Something as simple as forgetting to your vehicle in the correct gear can lead to dangerous consequences.

Driver’s education did not just teach me how to drive, but how to adopt a low-risk driving style. Don’t get me wrong, my parents are great drivers, but I believe that many of my bad habits stemmed from observing how they drove. For example, my parents tend to roll through stop signs or cross their arms while turning (sorry mom and dad), and I adopted those bad habits. In driver education, I reversed my bad habits and learned a variety of new laws, terms, and techniques, which I practiced with a teacher. If everyone were to implement what they have learned from driver education, it would reduce the number of deaths resulting from bad habits.

I learned through driver education that there are many ways a vehicle can result in the death of the driver or someone outside the car. Everyone knows that distracted and impaired driving affects the brain and your ability to drive negatively by impacting a judgment and reasoning, but what about the unthinkable, or even the simple questions? What if my brakes fail? What if I hydroplane? What if I am in Downtown Portland and the only parking spot needed to be parallel parked in? Why do I need to turn on my headlights during the day? Driver education covers these topics, and by knowing fundamental knowledge on how to control a vehicle and perform traffic maneuvers correctly, it will teach how to drive defensively with the possibility of saving the lives of yourself and the people inside and outside of your vehicle.

Countless steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving; too many to list. If there is one thing that I learned from driver education that can reduce the number of deaths, it is this crucial question: “What’s the worst that could happen.” I know that this may sound very cliché, but it is only true. When driving, you have to think about the mother going home to her newborn children or the high school athlete that just into his or her dream college for their achievements. I think about this before giving in to the temptation of talking, texting, or other distracting behaviors while driving, and I think you should too.