Drivers Ed Saves Lives

Katherine Tuttle

The Importance of Drivers Education

Driving is a leading cause of death in America. Road crashes are responsible for approximately 1.35 million deaths per year. Despite causing so many deaths every year, billions of people still drive every single day. Driving is essential in today’s world. But how can something so necessary be so dangerous? Well it does not have to be so dangerous. There are a number of ways to lower the amount of deaths caused by driving and car accidents every year. Drivers education can be taken in order to better educate young drivers on safe driving habits, educate on features that can be utilized to lower the amount of distractions in a car, and inform all drivers on dangerous driving habits to stop.

Educating young drivers on how to be safe while on the road is an excellent way to reduce the amount of deaths related to car accidents. New drivers are the best to educate because they have the least amount of experience driving and have not settled into bad habits that will be harder to break. By teaching young drivers how to stay away from distractions and unsafe habits, better drivers will be on the road everyday. Safer drivers today makes for safer roads tomorrow.

Beyond just educating young drivers on how to drive safely and avoid distractions and dangerous habits, they should also be educated on the tools at their disposal to limit distractions. One feature that is widely accessible is the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature on Apple phones. This is a great way to make sure that the driver is not getting distracted my notifications and texts because it silences them and tells people that you are driving when they text. Lowering the distractions in the car makes for a more focused driver which is safer for everybody on the road.

The final, and potentially most important step that can be taken to lower the amount of deaths that are attributed to car accidents is to educate those who are already on the road. Re-educating adults who have been driving for years is crucial to making the roads safer. This step is so crucial because those who have been driving for a long time are the ones who have established unsafe habits. In order to make the roads safer for everyone, those who have established unsafe habits such as texting and driving need to be reeducated on the dangers of these habits.

Safe driving is especially important to me because my mom was in a very serious car accident. She broke multiple bones and was in pain for months from this car accident. This has impacted me a lot in my safety of driving because I do not want to cause the pain that my mom was in. I have witnessed my friends practicing unsafe driving habits and I have called them out on it and asked them to change. One way that teens can help each other stay safe and less distracted while driving is offer to be the designated “phone person” in the car. My friends and I do this all the time and it keeps us all much safer.

The “phone person” strategy is a great solution to teens who want to stay connected with their friends or control the music. The idea is that the person in the passenger seat is in charge of the drivers’ phone and watches for texts. This way the driver can tell the passenger what to respond to any important texts but still stay focused on their driving.

As easy at it is to say that teen drivers should be less distracted and better, safer drivers. It means nothing if I, as a teen driver, don’t vow to be safer myself. To keep the roads safer for my friends, family, and those I may not know but will protect none the less, I am vowing to never check my phone while driving and to remain one hundred percent focused on the road. The most important thing to keep in mind when driving is that we are all sharing the road. We all have families and places we need to be. Regardless of how bad we feel we need to get some where, we all have to work together to make the roads safer for everyone.

Driving is a privilege that everyone looks forward to. The road represents the freedom to go anywhere, the responsibility to be in control, and the ability to start reaching your dreams. While driving can be all of those wonderful things, it can also be dangerous. In order to make the road safer for everyone, young drivers should be educated on how to drive safer and how to utilize tools to limit distractions. Along with this, experienced drivers should be reeducated on how to drive safely and limit distractions while driving. Driving is a privilege, and all drivers should be aware of the dangers the road possesses.