No Driver Safety Education = Tragedy

I’m thrilled that someone became concerned about driver safety. This subject is personal to me since I was a Police Officer for 13 years and have seen some horrible accidents. Teens have always been my biggest concern about driver safety. My biggest problem comes when a teenager is given a driver’s license without a driver’s education. I believe driver education plays an essential role in a child’s life and makes them more aware of the possible problems.

I’ve been very fortunate in my life not ever to receive a ticket or have never been in an accident, and I’m now 59 years old. Driver Education has always taught me that there are many ways you can do to avoid accidents. The most important advice I could give anyone is to watch out for other drivers. I have avoided several wrecks in my life just by looking behind me and avoiding a rear-end collision.

I used to hate working the night shift with the Sheriff’s Office on graduation night. It always ended in tragedy, with a young child in an accident because of alcohol. Usually, the accident ended in a fatality. Everyone that drinks think it doesn’t impair their ability to drive, but it certainly does. As you can see, this became personal to me and to try to eliminate these useless accidents. I spent 13 years of my Law Enforcement career speaking with High School students on the importance of Driver safety. Several things I suggested to my classes:

• Pay attention to other vehicles

• The loudness of their radios while driving

• No texting while driving

• Always check the rearview mirrors that are on the vehicle.

• Please pay attention to their speed.

• Safety Belts on at all times.

I will always believe that education is the best solution since it gives the child the importance of safety on the roadway and the tragedy for ignoring it. I’ve seen so much tragedy even with my brothers in Law Enforcement not using safety while chasing other vehicles. Some Law Enforcement officers have the attitude that they will get the person running from them no matter what. My opinion has always been that if it is causing safety issues to you or the public, you need to shut down the chase. I have learned by experience that to get through to High School students, there must be an emotional type of teaching to make it personal.

I have noticed in my jurisdiction that the fatality numbers did drop, as far as high school students, and I hope I had a small contribution to those numbers falling. If you ever thought about why I did what I did in my life to teach these children about vehicle safety, you would understand the first time by bringing the news to a parent that their son or daughter was never coming back home to them. What a tragedy!

The most significant contribution would be to mandate driver education to get a driver’s license in all states. If everyone would reach out to their family and friends regarding driver safety, can you imagine our impact on driver education?

I’m glad to see that organizations like yourself care about the safety of our friends and children. We need to continue to do our part to make sure the information continues to get out to everyone. I also critique myself when I make mistakes when I drive, like looking at my phone when a text comes in, and then suddenly my vehicle is on the side it doesn’t belong on. We must continue to be aware of our surroundings and don’t ever pay attention to anything that may distract us from driver safety.

I ran across this quote that is so true and needs to be thought about when dealing with driver safety “I’ve personally met up with quite a few legless, armless, and other badly messed-up folks. There’s a whole lot of mighty serious accident contemplation going on in our hospitals. My observations have taught me that it is much better to think about accidents before they happen than to brood on them afterward. I’d rather be late for dinner tonight than be on time for breakfast in the next world in the morning. Haste makes waste of a lot of good human material.” ( Irvin S. Cobb, Author ).

As well as another one is so true, “The automobile has brought death, injury and the most inestimable sorrow and deprivation to millions of people.” (Ralph Nader, car safety reform advocate (1965).

Thank you for the opportunity for the chance to get this most important scholarship.