The Importance of Driver’s Education

The Importance of Driver’s Education

Learning how to drive a car is undoubtedly one of the most important stages of growing up. As someone who lives in the suburban outskirts of New York City, I am surrounded by long, winded roads and speedy cars on large highways. While city-goers in Manhattan and Boston have the pleasure of utilizing public transport systems like the subway, only 3.5% of U.S. territory is metropolitan according to the 2015 U.S. census. For the rest of us who live in the 96.5%, driving is crucial, and driver’s education is vital to keeping others, ourselves, and our communities safe.

As Uncle Ben from Spider-Man once eloquently said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” In this regard, the responsibilities that come with driving are immense—not only does a safe road require us to be safe within our own vehicles, it also requires the people around us to hold to those same safety measures. While in a perfect world every driver would hold themselves to near-perfect levels of responsibility, our world is far from ideal. According to the CDC, 1.35 million people are killed on roadways annually; this is roughly two deaths per minute. Unless there is a process of standardization and education that is enforced on all prospective drivers, we can not guarantee the safety of our streets.

If everyone has access to proper driver education, we are able to ensure safer environments for everyone. This means checking that every driver has the proper certifications—such as up-to-date licenses—and has undergone rigorous testing that can validate a driver’s awareness on the road. We need to make sure that in-person training is as accessible as it can be before people drive for the first time to ensure that the prospective driver has gotten as much first-hand experience as possible.

We can increase accessibility and preach caution in multiple ways like implementing programs within public schools that teach students about the importance of safe driving, as well as outlining ways for youth to register for a driver’s license and take driving classes. Creating clearer signs on the road will also help ensure that as many people as possible can see warning signs visibly, which is important to overall driver safety. Having more signs on the road that tell people to put their seatbelts on can also increase passenger safety and prevent fatal accidents.

When I learned that my childhood pediatrician was killed due to a reckless driver who struck him in a hit-and-run, I was devastated. He was a close family friend, and I had gone to an appointment with him hours before the accident. I locked myself in my room for the remainder of the weekend, thinking about how if that car wasn’t in such a hurry, or if the man who killed him looked up from his phone for just 2 seconds, a life would’ve been saved. Now, my heart breaks on the highway when I see bouquets strung to fences, knowing that bright futures will never be lived out and a family lost what could have been.

Having systems that encourage driver safety will ensure that more lives will not be lost due to road misconduct. We must learn to focus solely on driving while we’re on the road—to not take any calls or texts, stay within the speed limit, and adjust all mirrors before driving. Of course, we must also remember to put on our seatbelts.

Ultimately, systems are never foolproof. Even if everyone takes all necessary precautions to drive as safely as they could, nothing is absolute. However, if we do take measures to be more cautious in our vehicles, we can make our world a safer and better place.