Educated Driving is Important

Driving is an important thing to learn in almost every teen’s life. That exciting next step into gaining freedom. Though exciting it is also a scary time. There is a new driver on the road and that can also be a hazard. They have little to no experience driving and that can result in an accident. I want to help educate people and show them some possible ways they can reduce their risk of getting into an accident. I believe that the best way to do that is being knowledgeable and having lots of driving practice, both before and after you receive your driver’s license.

Driver education is usually one of the first things a teen does on their journey to earn their license. It is meant to give them all the information and knowledge before they even step out on the road. When they go out on the road they should have knowledge of what to do in some scary situations. That knowledge should help guide teens into making safe decisions and therefore reduce the number of car accidents. This knowledge could seem obvious to most of us, like don’t use your phone while driving, or always look both ways before making a turn at a stop sign. However, a teen might not know the real dangers of these actions, and seeing the consequences in educational videos can really open a person’s eyes. As a teen who just got their license a year ago, I can say that driver’s education really helped me gain that basic knowledge to be able to go out on the road prepared and aware of dangers that could lead to death.

To further reduce the number of driving related deaths is to have more in- car practice with a parent and/or instructor. Due to Covid I had to wait an extra six months to get my license. I already had my fifty hours that were required in the state of Ohio but I was stuck waiting.I really believe that extra practice driving with my parents really helped me to become a safer driver. They could instruct me in different scenarios instead of me just going out on my own and putting myself and others at risk. I got more highway and interstate practice which can be a scary part with merging onto it. I believe if other new drivers got those extra hours of experience and practice with another set of eyes that could greatly reduce the number of accidents on the road.

I am grateful that I haven’t personally been involved in a crash butI know someone who has. One of my best friends got into an accident just two weeks after she received her license and totaled her parent’s very expensive car. I believe that she got and hit the side rail on the right side of the road. At the time she was a very new driver on the road and she could have really hurt herself or someone else if she hit another car. Luckily she was fine but I hope it taught her a lesson in distracted driving. Distracted driving especially today is a great risk among teens like myself. Our phones constantly going off is one of the biggest distractions. I know teens get the talk about ow don’t text and drive but I think if we really hit it home to them, teens will actually text and drive less. That could reduce the number of distracted driving accidents/ deaths dramatically

To be a better and safer driver I can fully follow the words I am preaching. I do sometimes get distracted with my phone. I try to put it away from me so I am not tempted to look but sometimes at a red light I check my phone for a text or social media message. When I do that I can end up missing the light turning green and people end up getting mad behind me. I also sometimes send a voice message text to my family. I need to pretty much stop using my phone all together while driving. I think the only okay time is when you have directions up but sometimes they can even be a distraction from the road. If you happen to look down at your phone while driving that is a dangerous situation you can put yourself in. I believe that these examples could make me a safer driver to keep my car accident number at zero.

I can help other people be safer on the road by encouraging them to take that extra time with their driving temps. don’t need to rush through those requirements just to get your license. I have learned that just because you have your license, it doesn’t mean you are a master driver. You still need a lot of practice and experience from just driving. Driving in new areas, like cities and rural roads. Also, different types of weather like rain, fog, and even snow or ice. You might not get to experience these things if you speed through your driver’s ed and practice driving and go straight for your license. If you happen to encounter these things and aren’t experienced and prepared that could put you and others in a lot of danger.

What this all emasn is that to reduce the number of accidents and deaths people need to be fully informed. Taking driver’s education is only the very first step in a new driver’s learning experience. They also need time to have real life experiences with driving to get a full range of situations and knowledge to make informed decisions quickly. A lot of the time, a second is all it takes to go from fine to a full blown car crash. Teens and new drivers are the greatest risks on the road. If they are more informed that risk goe s down substantially.