Drive Safely 2020

Drive Safely 2020

EmaLeigh Shelt

Drivers Education plays a very important role of showing students what driving is like every day before they get their license and get the huge responsibility of driving. It is the teacher’s job to make sure the student is learned enough to be able to gain their license and be able to drive on their own. I know when I was in driver’s education 2 years ago, the questions the teacher would ask about safety measures, I knew all of the answers, but other students weren’t even paying attention. Students would rather just have the luxury of driving but not car about the people around them. It’s unfair to the good people who have always payed attention driving that end up in fatal car accidents. In my person opinion, I feel that instead of just renewing your license, they should have to do a reevaluation every so many years. They should have to drive on different roads like the highway and backroads where most people weave in and out of traffic but also speed like crazy. There also should be certain areas where speeding is very common that cops are hidden to be able to catch more people on a daily. I have been in a few car accidents when I was little, but none were actually my mother’s fault. It was people running a red light or just in a hurry and not paying attention. I also lost my stepdad 4 years ago to a car accident. He was driving a tow truck and he came over a hill and there was a truck with a roll off dumpster on the back that had their truck in park so there were no brake lights. When he realized, it was too late, and he tried to go to the ditch, but his front driver tire hit the roll off dumpster, and he was ejected. The passenger was pinned in the truck and ended up passing away a few hours later as well. Thankfully growing up with both my dad and stepdad as tow truck drivers, I learned how to even drive one so I feel like I have more control over certain driving situations and could handle better than most drivers my age. I feel like staying off the phone is a very important thing for teenagers in today’s day and age because too many of my friends have talked about watching Netflix while driving because they are “so addicted to this show” which makes me nervous because if you’re paying attention to a show you are putting everyone else’s lives at risk. Sometimes when I am running late for work, I have my phone hooked up through my radio while talking to my father and eating a snack. This is distracting even if some people don’t believe so because my full attention isn’t on the road. People will do things like this thinking that it’s “not that distracting” just because they have been driving for 10+ years when in reality it is still just as dangerous no matter how long you have been driving. There should be more safety features on phones while you’re driving so you’re not even tempted to use it.