Drivers ed : My personal experiences on why we need it

Drivers ed: My personal experiences on why we need it

As someone who was in a car accident that totaled my car and caused me to need stitches in my face, safe driving is a huge concern to me. I personally will continue trying to educate others on the importance of it too, as it truly does continue to save lives.

Drivers ed helps drivers learn the best and safest ways to drive a vehicle. Learning from professionals will help you become a professional yourself. I think that there are many things that drivers ed teaches which drivers would not know otherwise. There are so many deaths a year caused by unsafe driving, which is why drivers ed would help reduce the number of driving deaths. If we were all to learn how to properly drive, there would not be as many errors (speeding, running through stop signs, not stopping long enough at stop signs, etc.).

The steps that can be taken would be to start requiring more people to take drivers ed classes, at a less expensive price. I feel like a main reason that many do not take these classes are because of the price, as it stopped me from taking the classes too. I feel like another huge step would be requiring the schools to teach it, at least for a semester.

As I previously mentioned, I have been in a car accident. I have also seen associates drive irresponsibly. My car accident was caused by the car in front of me turning their turning signal on and off and then deciding at the last minute they still wanted to turn, causing them to abruptly stop and causing me to crash into them. Being in a car accident was a very traumatizing moment for me and I still get awful flashbacks and nightmares because of it. I feel that if the person in front of me was more careful and learned the proper techniques, that they would not have put us both in danger. I have also sadly seen many people I know drive irresponsibly. As a college student, there are always people driving recklessly and endangering many others lives. I feel that if we were all educated on driving and actually become aware of the consequences that we would all be safer.

After my car accident, I have started taken many new steps to keep myself and the people around me safer. I was previously unaware that you should wear your full seatbelt, not just the part that went around your waist. My car accident proved that wearing just the waist part would cause you to smack your face off of the steering wheel. Since, I have not only personally worn my full seatbelt, but I have also made sure that my passengers, family, and friends all wear theirs too. Another thing I learned was to not be that close to the car in front of you, despite me not having been that close in my car accident. I feel that leaving more space in between you and the car in front of you gives you more time to react and more time for your car to react. This might seem obvious, but I was never told or learned it before.

I was almost a part of the 34,000 driving deaths per year. This has haunted me for months and left me with guilt and pain. I was one of many who are not aware that there were so many deaths caused by driving. I was one who felt safe inside of my vehicle because it was sturdy and like a home to me. If we educate more people on these facts, the number of deaths would go down. If we educate more people on these facts, we would all, as a whole, be safer.