The Last Time You Step in Your Car

Fionna Hook

Driver’s Education Initiative Award Essay

Sunday, November 22nd, 2020

The Last Time You Step in Your Car

What if you woke up one day, got into your car to go to school or work, and never even contemplated that you could take your final breath in this automobile?  It is a proven fact that teenagers who undergo thorough or even private driver education are safer and more alert on the road. Comprehensive drivers ed programs are essential for keeping teen drivers as well as all the other cars they encounter safe. In an adequate drivers education program students should learn the basics such as how to drive on fast paced roads, as well as identifying signs and when to turn and when not to turn. They should also learn more complicated things such as what to do if you hydroplane, how to properly care for your car so you can get the maximum  amount of usage out of it, and how to drive in snowy or even icy conditions. Drivers education painstakingly prepares budding drivers for the real roads. 

Plenty of precautionary steps can be taken in order to prevent vehicle related deaths from happening. For instance, assemble the information in a way that is appealing to teens. Do not just sit and lecture them; they will not ingest what you are saying. Instead show them through games, online activities, or even have a celebrity endorse safe driving. Technology in vehicles is another superb approach to safe driving. Thanks to technological advancements, we are now able to do just about anything from the dashboard of our cars. Plus, many cars have a voice command option where a teen can ask the car to call mom or text Stacy back rather than fumbling with their phone. Furthermore, one more example is monitoring the number of friends a teen has in the car. The more people, the more distractions, and the more possibilities for an accident. 

In August of 1985, my maternal grandmother was killed in a vehicular accident. She was an avid cyclist and was crossing over a busy road in town to get to a quiet, country road on the other side. She was struck and killed as she was crossing; the driver was not paying attention. This reckless mistake left my mother and uncle without a mom, and my grandfather without a wife. Consequently, about ten years later my maternal great grandfather was killed by an overworked trucker who should not have been driving. This was before regulations on how often truckers can drive, and the company the truck driver worked for was avoiding the minimal regulations that were in place. The driver was exhausted, overworked, and should not have been allowed to drive. In fact, his death helped create the work and rest regulations for truckers. Both of the situations could have been prevented if the assailant had just been paying better attention. 

There are plenty of steps I can take to be a safer driver. For instance, I deeply enjoy listening to the radio, and often turn it up louder than I should. This not only is hazardous to hearing, it also distracts me from my present task: driving. A solution to this problem would be to simply turn the radio off, down, or switching to an instrumental station. Another way I can be a safer driver is controlling my road rage. I tend to get upset when people pass me, honk at me, or give me a dirty look. To solve this, I could work on calming down and realizing that I most likely will not see this person ever again, and the only thing I have done is briefly inconvenience them. 

In conclusion, teaching adequate drivers education, assembling comprehensive information for teens, and controlling tempers on the road are all ways to reduce vehicular deaths. Safe driving is something we should all strive for, because you never know when it could be the last time you step in your car.