The Importance of Drivers Education

Shauna Ramage

November 30, 2020

The Importance of Drivers Education

Drivers education is important for not just protecting the driver, but also to ensure the safety of everybody on or near a road. As stated in the article which was provided for us to read there are on average thirty-four thousand casualties from car accidents annually. There are six million car accidents yearly in the United States alone. However, that number could drop with younger people aged fifteen to twenty, who account for over six percent of drivers, receiving proper driver education.

The number of fatalities caused by car accidents per year could be decreased. Speeding is a big factor in car accidents. As of twenty seventeen twenty-six percent of deaths from car accidents were attributed to speeding. The odds of surviving a collision significantly decreases once the vehicle is going over forty-three miles per hour. And if the speed of the car is eighty miles per hour the chances of survival drops to twenty-five percent. If speeding violations were more strict the cases of death due to speeding would drop significantly.

Distracted driving is the top cause of driving to date. One of the biggest items that distract a driver is a cell phone. With music, texting, and phone calls, it makes it easy for a driver to take their eyes off the road. In twenty nineteen eight and a half percent of fatal car accidents were caused by distracted drivers. If drivers were to limit their distractions while driving it would benefit both them and the other drivers on the road.

Driving under the influence can result in a DUI and the loss of a license, however after a count drinks some still believe it is okay to drive. In twenty eighteen ten thousand five hundred and eleven people were killed due to drunk driving. According to MADD, only about one percent of drunk drivers are arrested. If everybody from the driver to bartenders and police were more cautious of the dangers of drunk driving the number of unnecessary fatalities could plummet.

On October eighteenth of twenty-twenty, my front passenger tire caught the side of the road causing me to lose control of my car and crash into a sewer pipe causing my car to roll. Although I was not speeding nor was I distracted I still crashed, I had my seat belt on and sustained no injuries, save for a bruised knee and ribs. My older brother who is nineteen got into a car accident about two months before I happened to in which a car cut him off and he had no way to stop the car fast enough to stop from hitting the other car. Multiple times while driving with both my mother and father and even my older brother I have seen them go onto their phones multiple times even when the drive was shorter than ten minutes. I have also been in the car with my brother when he has tailgated other cars.

To be a better and safer driver I could slow down around corners a bit more and not roll any more cars. To help other people be the safer driver I can tell my brother and parents to not text and drive and I could also ask them to please not speed. The education of drivers is important to make sure that everybody on and off the road is protected from becoming an unnecessary casualty.