Safety is Not Optional

Safety is Not Optional

Quinn Coli

When I was a kid, I was always excited to learn how to drive. My friends and I taunted each other by calculating who would turn 16 and be able to drive first. (I was always the youngest and didn’t enjoy this conversation.) We thought of driving as being able to go wherever we want whenever we want. Little did we know the responsibility required to be a safe driver. Now that I am a driver, I understand the importance and personal responsibility of safety on the road.

In my state, because driver education is not a requirement for anyone over 18, it is not uncommon for teenagers to wait to get their license. While it is certainly a less expensive route, the price of a life being lost as a result of driving is a much higher cost than any driver education class. After I took driver education and understood how much knowledge about safety was involved in driving, I knew I should never be allowed on the road without that knowledge. Lives can be saved by simply sharing information about safety; this is the purpose of driver education.

The biggest step that must be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is to teach people how to drive safely. The most effective way to do this is through driver education courses. Driver education should be a requirement to get a license, but it should be free so families with new drivers don’t have to sacrifice safety in order to afford for their child to drive. A simple way to do this could be to offer driver education at high schools. Not all schools offer this class, making it significantly harder for teenagers to take drivers ed.

I was in a minor car accident when I was in elementary school. No one was hurt and it wasn’t clear if it was any one person’s fault, however there was one alarming factor. From what I remember, the teenage boy in the other car (who had been driving the car when the accident happened) switched places with his father (who was in the passenger seat) before the police arrived; I have always wondered if the teenager didn’t have his license yet. I don’t know how accurate the details of my memory are, but I’m sure similar incidents are common. An important lesson I took away from this regarding driving is how important the process of getting a license is, but a life lesson I took away was to take responsibility for your actions and the consequences resulting from them.

One way I actively try to be a safer driver is to set up directions and music before I leave. This prevents me from being distracted while driving by trying to pull up directions or change my music. I encourage my friends to do this too. I often drive with my friends if we are going to the same place. This way I can drive while my friend manages directions or music. (A bonus is that it reduces carbon emissions!) I am committed to being cautious and careful while driving, and I hope that driver education courses might become more accessible so that everyone can have the knowledge and know-how to drive safely.