My Musings on Driver Safety

The importance of drivers ed has increased with our society’s growing dependence on technology. Steps must be taken to increase drivers ed in order to reduce motor vehicle-related deaths. If young drivers are better educated, not only with basic driving skills, but also with the severity of poor choices and the consequences that follow they will be better equipped to use good judgement when behind the wheel, or even as a passenger.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 75% of teenage accidents are related to critical errors.  Those errors include lack of scanning, speeding, and distractions.   This insinuates that more practice is needed for student drivers.  Many states mandate a certain number of road hours in various conditions under the supervision of a licensed adult driver.  In addition to this, increasing funding for drivers ed classes could be nothing but beneficial.  If all students were required to take a drivers ed course before procuring driver’s licenses the likelihood of accidents decreases. 

Several years ago my family was affected by distracted driving. In the fall of 2017, my husband was traveling for work. While stopped at a traffic light, and following traffic laws, he was rear-ended by a young lady who was texting while driving. Because her eyes were not on the road she did not see the traffic light turn yellow and then red. Though my husband was driving an SUV and she had a small sedan, the impact was just right, and our brand new vehicle with less than 5,000 miles on it was totaled. My husband also sustained whiplash, and ended up under chiropractic care for several months following the accident. This disrupted his work, and inconvenienced us as we were a one-vehicle family for a time.

Steps that I, as well as others, can take to be safer drivers are to be more conscientious of our surroundings, including cutting out all distracted driving. One way to avoid distracted driving is to not eat while driving. Save that greasy hamburger until the destination is reached so one can give his/her full attention to driving. Another way is to avoid cell phone usage. Texts can wait, and even though many cars now come with handsfree capability, a conversation is still a distraction. I highly advise drivers to let their friends and family know they will be unavailable for a time, and then let them know when they can speak safely. A final way to maintain driver safety is to use the voice feature while using GPS. This is a common distraction, but when the device warns of an upcoming turn the driver does not have to be so focused on the GPS screen.