The Importance of Safe Driving

The Importance of Safe Driving

Sabra Fortenberry

Most people believe that driving is just a piece of cake that anyone can learn in just a short amount of time. Obviously, this is not the case. There are several precautions that you must take in order to drive safely and drive the correct way. And if not taken seriously, there can be some very dangerous consequences. Some of these precautions you would think do not matter when driving, when really, they play a huge role on the highway.

I’ve been in a couple situations where I have felt uncomfortable with someone driving, I have even scared myself and made myself slow down and become more aware of my surroundings. In late January of this year, I was involved in an accident where I hydroplaned and ended up in a ditch. I was on my way to school and it was misting, so I made sure I was going the speed limit. I came around a curve and my wheel just jerked to the left without me even doing anything wrong. As a seventeen-year-old girl, this was terrifying! In that moment, I did not know what to do or how to save myself from the situation. I just quickly grabbed the wheel and carefully turned the it to the right trying to get myself back on my side of the road. When I did, I hit a ditch and I flew about 20 feet and ended up backwards. I was ultimately terrified. Luckily, I was perfectly fine but I hit my shoulder pretty hard on the door making it sore for a few days.

When this happened, I wasn’t sure what to do. I just had to take charge in something that I did not know how to handle. I think Drivers Ed should teach teenagers and even adults how to handle situations on hydroplaning and other weather conditions. Each year, one out of every four traffic accident deaths and 445,000 injuries come from weather conditions. If the Drivers Education Program taught more about how to handle certain weather conditions, maybe the number of weather accidents and deaths would decrease. It would also make people more aware of how to drive in different types of weather. Whether that be snow, rain, mist, or even flood type weather. Along with the weather aspect of driving, four-way crossings should be taught more upon. Personally, when I learned how to drive, I wasn’t sure who was next to go at the four-way, I had to ask my dad in a panic. The steps do not have to be hard or in a lot of detail. A simple 45-minute lesson could help educate more teens on how to approach a four-way stop the correct and legal way. Then after the 45-minutes are up, they could go out and carefully practice it themselves with an instructor or a trusted adult.

Another precaution that a Drivers Educational Program could focus on is teaching teens how to control how fast they drive. Sometimes we are running late and think it is okay to just go five or ten miles over the speed limit, when ultimately a couple of miles over can lead to an accident or even death. Like I said I was actually going the speed limit when I got in my accident so really an accident can happen at any speed. What the program could possibly do is get a victim of a car accident that was badly injured to sit down and talk to them. This way the kids could get a real-life glimpse on how serious driving and going the speed limit actually is. Since my accident I have been very cautious of my speed and more aware of the conditions that the roads are in. I think this would be very affective in teens lives and make them more aware of the consequences that driving has.

Lastly, some steps that I can take to be a more careful driver is watching my speed and making sure that my full attention is on the road. I know I can get distracted very easily so putting away my cell phone is very important in making sure that my attention is where it needs to be. A big thing that I keep in mind is that every action I make has a consequence, not just on me but to other drivers and people who are in the car with me.