Driver Education: Why Is It So Important?

Idalia Lozano

November 26, 2020

Driver Education: Why Is It So Important?

What is “Driver Education” exactly? What’s all the bustling noise about “informing the youth”? Well, driver education is a type of education that teaches one how to maneuver their way on the streets, highways, any type of road that can be driven on and the way to functionally operate a vehicle. This course of study is what determines life or death on the road; it teaches young and new drivers how to properly. I find driver education to be a very essential life skill that has affected me and will affect young generations to come. Driver education goes a long way when it comes to saving thousands of lives if not millions.

Essentially, driver education’s main goal has been to be cautious of others who can be put in harm’s way with such a large vehicle; in theory to prevent deaths on the road with knowledge. Unfortunately this is not always the case, my grand aunt and grand uncle had a horrible accident on the streets with a young reckless driver crashing into their car on a busy street. It was found that this careless young man was distracted on his phone! My grand aunt and uncle had to stay in the ER for 2 months due to their broken arms; had this man been more knowledgeable of how to drive safely, my relatives might not have had such a difficult time adjusting to their broken limbs and managing work. So for me as a young driver, I find the usage of cellphones to be obsolete when driving and to stop and park in safe areas if needed.

Additionally, steps to prevent deaths of people would be to implement an optional or even necessary course of driver’s education to be taken in all the schools of the U.S so that every young person knows at least the basics of driving. If young people learn about how to drive safely at an early age, it allows less room to say they weren’t “educated” enough and provides vital information that can serve useful to these young 16 and 17 year olds wanting to drive a car of their own and in case of emergencies. Some general preventative steps to driving are, ensuring that one is not intoxicated or under any influence of alcohol when driving, to be in a focused mindset when driving, check one’s mirrors when in tight places or on the freeway, lowering the sounds of music or radio that might be playing in the background to have a clearer ear out for important sounds like honks or sirens, and wearing proper prescription glasses or contact lenses to have clear vision of the road. These are steps I follow to heart when driving and continue to do so. However I wouldn’t mind seeing change in public schooling, if we could return the classes of driver education we as a society would be more safe and cautious with the knowledge of how to properly drive.