Fix the education to fix the driving

Driving schools allow future drivers to gain a firm grasp of the road rules, attain driving experience in a safe environment, and ultimately handle the responsibility of driving. This essay will discuss further implications of driving schools and other means of education on driver’s safety and propose steps to improve said safety.

According to Tanya Mohan, a road safety and consumer travelling contributor on Forbes, 28% of licensed drivers claimed to have spent less than twenty minutes of actual driving prior to the driver’s test. These astonishing statistics prove the ineffectiveness of the driver’s test—the test that is meant to serve as the deciding factor of an individual’s responsibility to driver. With such careless measures, careless drivers will be more common. This will cause a direct increase in the death rate from automobile incidents. By funding and placing more weight to drivers ed and the driver’s test, the roads will be a safer place and death rates will cease to rise at the current rate.

Aside from improving the safety regulations on cars (such as noise control and the seatbelt law), improvements in the driving educational system are required. These improvements can range from minor changes in the driving test to encourage test takers to train longer before taking the test. Or those improvements can take the form of hard regulations on current educational standards. An example of said measure is taken from Tanya Mohan’s article and she discussed that a substantial percentage of current drivers wish to place laws that force individuals to have a minimum number of hours of driving experience before attaining their license. This would build up their confidence and allow for safer driving. Another regulation that can be enacted is the governmental funding of driving lessons. Many students learn the wrong way through relatives because they are unable to pay for their driving lessons. By removing this financial burden, more individuals are able to reap the rewards of formal driving education and demonstrate safer driving.

The most brutal crash I witnessed was on 12/12/12. A car t-boned another car at high speed and both cars tumbled off the road and burst a fire hydrant open. Regardless of who was at fault, this event was extreme dangerous to both parties and even posed risk to nearby cars. Although this accident seemed to be unintentional and a result of mistiming, DUIs and distracted driving only increase the frequency of these accidents. People who engage in these acts selfishly put both themselves and others at risk and destroy the safe rumor of the road.

Personal steps that can be taken to improve the safety of the road include the removement of any distractions while driving. By focusing on the road, staying off my phone, and limiting conversations within the car, I can maximize my attention to the road and stay alert to any dangerous incidents. Urging others to follow these simple steps will slowly improve the safety of the road by improving the quality of drivers.

WORKS CONSULTED

Covington, Taylor. “Distracted Driving Statistics 2020: The Zebra.” 2020 | The Zebra, 26 May 2020, www.thezebra.com/research/distracted-driving-statistics/.

Covington, Taylor. “Drunk Driving Statistics in 2020: The Zebra.” Drunk Driving Statistics in 2020 | The Zebra, 30 Apr. 2020, www.thezebra.com/research/drunk-driving-statistics.

Mohn, Tanya. “Is Drivers Ed Good Enough? Most Americans Don’t Think So.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 July 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2019/07/11/is-drivers-ed-good-enough-most-americans-dont-think-so/#2a17fa703367.