Driver Safety

The importance of driver education in America is to teach people the rules of the road. If everyone knew the rules of the road, there would be fewer drivers breaking those laws. Driving seems to have become less about being safe and controlled and more about just getting from A to B without crashing. If people truly knew the rules of the road and why the rules are in place, they would appreciate the laws as a method of keeping them safe.

There are many steps to reduce the number of driving deaths. The first one is to get rid of phones in the car. Today’s society has become so absorbed in their phones that they want to use it while driving. People are so caught up in trying to respond to an email, phone call, or text message that they forget that when driving a car, lives are at risk. When you look away from the road to grab your phone to answer a simple text, you could hit standing water, drop a tire off the edge of the road, run into the back of someone else, miss a turn and run off the road, run a stop sign or red light, etc. Looking away from the road to look at your phone even for one second could be the difference between driving and crashing.

Another issue is car manufacturers. Car manufacturers are making their cars more compatible with phones, which is only making the phone issue worse. The more compatible phones and cars become, the more people use their phones in the car. Another issue is the cars themselves. Cars have become too electric and too safe. For example, modern cars have so many different assists that the actual driving and thinking is done by a computer, not the driver. That is a very dangerous combination. A complacent driver in a car that does a lot of the work means the driver no longer needs to know how to actually handle a car and follow the rules. That will all backfire when that car stops working properly and the driver needs to actually drive the car but they don’t know how.

For example, a car that has lane assist, self driving capabilities, park assist, traction control variation, and automatic braking does not require a person to truly know how to do those functions of driving. If the driver doesn’t need to know how to change lanes, park, brake, or drive in wet or icy conditions, why should they be on the road? All it takes is one wire to come loose and one or more of those functions go away, so the driver would be responsible for taking up the slack. If the driver cannot take up the slack, the result could very easily and likely end in a crash. We need to teach drivers how to properly handle a car. If we got rid of phones and took away some driving assists, drivers would be forced to pay more attention to the road and their surroundings.

I have been driving for just over three years and have not had even a fender bender or scratch. The steps that I personally take are simple. I don’t use my phone other than to start music when I first get in the car. I am always looking out the windshield or mirrors to get an idea of where my car is in the relation to the immediate surroundings. This is because I am a big fan of NASCAR, Indycar, F1, and IMSA. Understanding how those drivers have to use their eyes and brain to drive at those speeds without crashing has taught me how to imitate those same methods. I always look five to ten seconds ahead of where I currently am. This gives me more time to process what is happening in front of me and to use my peripherals to see what goes on to the sides. I also am constantly looking around me to see if there are pedestrians, animals, or traffic issues that could affect my safety or the safety of others. In general, I try to be the most aware driver on the road so that I can see an accident in the making before it happens.

I have not been in the car in which someone else’s driving made me feel unsafe. Most of my family try to drive like me as far as overall awareness of the surroundings. I have been in a car in which the driver did not seem to appreciate the driving experience as they should, but they were still safe during the time I was in the car. I also try to make sure that when someone else is driving, I get to control their phone so as to keep everyone safe.

Personally, I think that drivers education courses are not tough enough. They need to teach the rules of the road, driving etiquette, and proper procedures. I also think that driver education should be mandatory for all new drivers and that once you get your license, you must retake and pass a driver education exam every 5 years to ensure that you still know how the roads operate. As far as driving education, I think all new drivers should have at least 15 hours of driving with a licensed driving instructor on different kinds of roads. New drivers need to learn how to drive on rural roads, highways, interstates, cities, subdivisions, and towns. Once they complete that, it should be 5 hours of night time driving on the interstate, cities, and backroads. After all that, then it should take at least 100 hours of driving with a licensed driver above 25 years old to get a license. I also think that all drivers should learn how to drive a car fast on gravel or snow to learn car control. If more drivers knew how to drive a car on any road condition, how to correct a slide, and how to brake and turn in wet weather, their knowledge of car control could save them many times. This type of training should also be repeated every 10 years.

If more people appreciated the driving experience and the risk that comes with it, less people would do what they do while behind the wheel of a car. Today, people take driving for granted, thinking it is just a part of what they have to do. As a result, there are people who don’t take it seriously enough. When people who don’t care about driving are on the road, they are most likely to be the cause of an accident. While we will never get the number of driving deaths down to 0, with the proper training, education, and appreciation, that number will drop a lot.