Safe Drivers, Safe Roads

Road safety is incredibly important to me, and it should be to everyone else, too. I have experienced reckless driving on the part of family members and it can be very scary. While my father drives, he will answer work emails on his phone. He claims to drive the same when he’s emailing and when he is not, but it is obvious he is not. When a person looks at their device or loses focus of the road for any reason, their car will start to move in a direction that does not follow the lines of the road. Because a person is not focusing on the wheel, they cannot safely keep the car on the road.

Thankfully, my father has not been in a car accident due to his behavior, but my mother has. In her case, however, the reckless driving came from another driver. My sisters and I were being driven to school by my mother one morning. My mother turned into an intersection when an approaching driver sped up to get through the intersection before my mother could. He ended up terribly t-boning my mother’s car, sending my family further down the road. It was, to say the least, a scary experience for a 5 year-old. My mother is always careful when she drives, which shows that even being careful is not enough when others are not. The main concern when I drive is not that I will be careless, but that others drivers will be.

In my opinion, the best way to prevent car accidents and deaths related to accidents is to make the driver’s test more difficult. Although it varies with each state, my home state of New Jersey only required me to parallel park to get a license. How does my ability to parallel park define me as a driver? It does not. End of story. People in my state practice parallel parking, not safe driving. As long as the DMV is testing people on arbitrary aspects of driving, then accidents will continue. I believe if driver’s tests were more thorough, such as driving on the road for an extended time, highway driving, etc, then less accidents would occur. In addition, I do not think six hours is enough time with a driving instructor. The main issue I have derived is that people do not know how to drive. If people do not know how to drive, then they will get into car accidents.

A second issue that I find with driving that contributes to accidents is speeding. Speeding has become incredibly normalized. I can see with my friends and family that so many people do not care about speed limits. When a school zone comes and speeds drop to 25 mph, it is because children could run onto the street. It is for the safety of the children. When people disregard that, they increase the chances of a child dying. Another aspect that relates to speeding is drunk driving. When a driver is drunk, they might travel faster and obviously, their motor skills are impaired. Speeding is a recipe for crashes, and as long as people continue to think it is safe, then crashes will constantly occur. I will concede, I have speeded. Sometimes, when people are in a rish, they forget themselves. Or sometimes a speed limit becomes painfully slow. Or you go downhill and you don’t want to ride on your brakes. I am human, so yes I have speeded. But we have to remember that speed limits are where they are for a reason. The reason being to ensure the safety of everyone who goes on the road.

I received my license in late January of this year. I am, by no means, a perfect driver. But I am always trying to improve my driving. I am trying to catch myself when I speed, and slow down to the posted speed. It is so important that we all do this. As I stated, one of the scariest parts of driving is that you have to rely on others’ capability to drive. Frequently, people will tailgate you when you drive the speed limit. To me, that can be scary. When a driver tailgates me, I find sometimes pulling over is the best and safest option. I am practicing defensive driving techniques such as that. Being a defensive driver entails lots of attributes, all of which makes the road safer. Because I understand the severity of accidents, I want to be a better driver and I will always strive to be a safe driver even when others will not.