Being a Driver: Is It Really That Safe?

Being a Driver: Is It Really That Safe?

Many parents are thrilled but anxious for their children when they get their license and drive by themselves for the first time. They always worry and make sure to tell them to “Check your blind spot!” or “Make sure you turn on your blinkers!” Often times they seem somewhat hysterical and unrealistic, but maybe they have the right mindset. Just in America, an average of 34,00 people die from a driving-related accident or tragedy every year. Whether it be because of careless driving, dozing off at the wheel, drunk driving, or weather issues, that’s too many people. For more statistics, the number of deaths related to driving for just one year in America is greater than the deaths of soldiers in The Iraq War, War in Afghanistan, War of 1812, and the Mexican War combined. Quite frankly, being able to effectively compare the number of driving deaths to the deaths of soldiers in wars is heartbreaking. The point of this essay isn’t to scare everyone into refraining from driving, but drivers need to be exposed to and aware of the dangers accompanied with driving.

Of course it’s good to bring attention to these statistics and averages, but how much help would that be to drivers if they didn’t have any kind of instruction on how to safely drive? The first part of driving safely is wearing your seat belt any time you are in a vehicle that is moving. Every teenager just rolled their eyes at that statement, but it’s so true! Seat belts were created for a reason! I have personally heard of so many stories of tragic accidents in which the person either didn’t wear their seat belt in the correct way or at all. Granted, your seat belt isn’t a magical shield that will protect you from even getting a small scratch if you get in a wreck where you flip 30 times, but it could seriously save your life. The second part of safe driving is putting your phone up and getting rid of all distractions. If a person is distracted while driving, they’re not going to be focused on their surroundings such as someone slamming on brakes in front of them, someone merging into their lane, how fast their car is going, etc. Getting rid of distractions helps a person’s driving enormously because it allows them to give their full attention to arriving safely at wherever their destination is.

Driver’s education is so important because it helps to prepare students for driving in an environment where it’s okay to make mistakes and learn from them. It also gives students information on how terribly driving under the influence impairs a person from driving safely. My experience with learning about driving under the influence was quite comical. The “drunk goggles” made everything look warped and it was very hard to walk correctly, much less focus on driving. Watching other students try and function with the impairments was very funny as well. Bottom line, driver’s education teaches students both the laws of driving and gives students hands-on experiences to better help them understand how damaging distractions and impairments can be while driving.

Personally, I have been in a car accident in which someone was distracted. I was fully stopped and waiting to turn left while cars were approaching from the opposite direction on my way home from school one day when I was suddenly rear ended. It turns out that the car behind me was rear ended by another car in which the driver was on her phone. She hit the car behind me with full speed and then that car proceeded to hit me. It was honestly very scary because I did not suspect anything, considering I was doing everything right and was not breaking any rules or laws. I was not seriously injured in any way, but I did have minor whiplash from being hit so hard. This all could’ve been avoided if the driver of the car that hit both my car and the car behind me had gotten off of her phone and just paid attention.

Just because I have talked about safety while driving doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes as well. I often get distracted by my music or by the other people in my car and don’t make the best decisions while driving. The first step to driving safer is assessing what I can fix and then making a plan for getting better. I am going to be better about getting rid of my distractions and I’m going to be better about focusing on my surroundings. To help other people get information on safe driving, I have shared this website of information on both the scholarship and the resources to allow people to get the real facts on driving.