Road education

Miquail Langston

6/24/21

Scholarship Applicant

Drivers education

Drivers education can be a high school course of study that teaches the fundamentals of automobile operation, as well as basic vehicle maintenance, safety considerations, and traffic regulations and laws. In the state of Illinois To obtain a driver’s license, all students under the age of 18 must finish a driver education course which is mandatory. Some kids might find reasons to question “why?” Why would they need this class if they may already know how to drive? Well currently as a nation the number of death totals that occur behind the wheel is very high. Young drivers may fall into this category the most. I believe a quick fix for this problem is simply spreading the knowledge and awareness to more drivers of the importance of driver education and how serious it is.

What makes drivers education so important as it relates to lowering death rates in car accidents is that most drivers who end up in these fatal accidents aren’t correctly educated on the road. According to UsClaims.com, This means that an unlicensed motorist causes around 8,400 deaths in the United States each year. According to the same survey, around 3% of all drivers are unlicensed, and unlicensed drivers were involved in 18% of fatal automobile and truck crashes. This shows proof that many people who aren’t correctly educated on the rules of the road and did not take the driver’s education course are the ones who most likely end up in these fatal accidents. If we were to push the knowledge and awareness of drivers education out there more and encourage more young drivers and older drivers to take and maybe even retake the driver’s courses it can have a big effect on the number of deaths caused by car accidents. Maybe these classes are something that needs to be retaken every year to refresh driver’s minds about the road. Unlicensed drivers and drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked, according to AAA, are substantially more likely than properly licensed drivers to be involved in fatal crashes. Unsurprisingly, there has been an increase in the number of unlicensed drivers and drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked who have been engaged in deadly hit-and-runs over the last 20 years. No one wants to be on the wrong end of and fatal car accident so also should push the narrative that if you know some who still drives without a license or suspended license to not drive under any circumstances until they legally can the right way.

Me personally I have been in a number of accidents myself which luckily nun was fatal. My very first accident happened in my first car and was a hit and run, I was on my way home from school when a lady in a black chevy truck side blinded me after running a stop sign. This accident left my car severely damaged and I could no longer move my car, and after realizing that the lady who ran into me sped off after looking me into my eyes and seeing how helpless i was. It later came back that she had no insurance and is likely the reason she decided to flee the scene. Insurance is also very and important and I believe cars shouldn’t be sold to people who can’t get insurance meaning if someone doesn’t have a license they shouldn’t be able to get and car either. This accident was very dangerous and took a toll on me for a while as a driver, as of today I still deal with the fear of being blinded by another driver it affects me in many ways but 1 way I can say for the better as it made me much more cautious and aware of my surroundings when I’m out and driving. This accident happened in 2019 two days before my birthday and I can say resulted in me being a much smarter driver today.

With my experiences on the road I believe I could help give advice and teach people what to do and not to do on the road. The first step I take into being a better driver is just always being aware of what’s around me, there’s, not a moment when I’m not 100% focused on the road I don’t let anything else detract me while driving, and I’m always double-checking areas especially the ones I can’t see in my front view. The second step is driving with the mindset that someone els might make a mistake or may not be paying attention, instead of assuming since their on the road they must know what there doing I assume the opposite that they might not know what there doing that way I’m two steps ahead and can see accidents before they occur and easily avoid them. Using this step has probably saved my life plenty of times

With our current problem in the Us of deaths due to car accidents being so high, It makes drivers educations very important. Especially since it is mandatory in every state to be taken before eligible to get a driver’s license. To reduce the deaths of this global problem we should all come together and spread awareness and knowledge of the issue because no one wants to suffer from this problem, people with strong voices should speak up and encourage people to take the course and drive the right way because too many people lives depend on it!