Loaded Missile

Loaded Missile

Before I received my drivers licenses at age sixteen, my dad sat me down to talk to me about the importance of being a safe and responsible driver. He informed me at that time that driving a vehicle is no different than having a loaded missile out on the road. At the time, I figured he was just being overly protective and cautious. Over the years of driving my opinion on this has changed and I believe what he was saying that day was accurate. Proper education, responsible driving, and patients are ways ensure a drive is safely ready for driving.

Education is defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction. When it comes to driving receiving adequate instruction is a very important part on how to drive properly. Taking lessons allows you to be more comfortable and confident behind the wheel. When you feel more safe driving you are less likely to make errors that can cause injury or death. The deaths in 2019 totaled 16,988. Out of that many could have been avoided by proper knowledge and not getting behind the wheel intoxicated.

Changing the way, the U.S gives new driver’s license and having something in place for drivers that have been on the road for some time would reduce the number of deaths that are happening each year. When someone is brand-new to driving taking a simple written test and taking one driving lesson with someone is not the most effective way to teach someone to drive. Practicing this over several months to a year with a professional would help in getting someone properly prepared for different scenarios that do play out while driving. Another way to reduce this number would enforce a law that has drivers after a certain time come in to retest their driving skills. Often, in states like Arizona, you do not need to reinstate your drivers licenses until the age of 65. That is a huge amount of time to not have any refresher courses on something Americas spend a lot of time doing.

Requiring refresher courses and having patients would prevent someone from going through a car accident like I unfortunately had to go through. While driving through an intersection my friend and I where T-boned by a large SUV. The impact caused my car to go through one lane of traffic, up on to a sidewalk and info a fence. My car was totaled and we both had serious injuries. This accident was caused by a driver not have enough patience for the turning arrow to turn green before he decided to go. This accident caused a lingering effect in both of our lives for years after. I had to receive knee surgery and my friend had to heal from a broken neck. This whole thing could have been avoided if responsible and patient driving were on the receiving end of this. If proper driving lessons could have been given to this individual, we could have avoided the pain and suffering caused from this accident.

Creating new laws on lessons after a certain amount of time and proper training could reduce the accidents like mine. Practicing the proper ways could reduce the chance of causing death to another driver. These types of issues should be taken very seriously as we are driving loaded missiles.