Driving the Road to Safety

Driving the Road to Safety

Lauren Owens

I have only been in a car accident once. I was on a road trip heading home to Virginia Beach from Kentucky. It was raining and the middle of the night in Tennessee when my dad looked into the rearview mirror, saw what was happening, and braced for impact. My family has practiced safe driving and understands its importance. Still, Accidents still happen for people that drive safely, as seen in my example. I have heard of car accidents others have been in and have seen prevalent unsafe driving practices by my friends. It is very dangerous on the road and it concerns me when my friends and family do not take their driving seriously. Driving irresponsibly is extremely prevalent in today’s society and the way driver’s education is handled and the way driver’s are held accountable can change that.

Driver’s education changes how driver’s view safety and its importance, therefore it reduces the number of deaths because of driving. In my driver’s education, I was taught the dangers of driving, as well as the ways to be safe while driving. If it is not instilled within a driver the importance of safety while driving, then they will be predisposed to be an unsafe driver and have the potential to hurt themselves and others. Driver’s education must be taken seriously by the teacher as well as the student. The problem is when the student’s refuse to take their driver’s education to heart. It is almost impossible to get away with not learning how to drive in America today, meaning that it is even more important to teach safe driving practices since driving affects everyone. One does not even have to be driving or in a car to be hurt or killed in an accident. To solve this, the safety measurements provided in driver’s education classes must be reasonable. Drivers are more likely to ignore guidelines that are unreasonable. Students must also be persuaded that driving recklessly will affect more than just themselves and more than just their bodily health, such as insurance and paying for damages in a car wreck. Driver’s education is vitally important and if it is not taken seriously then more and more people will continue to get hurt.

Driver’s education is also important to stay updated. Safety measures are constantly changing based on new scientific discoveries and improved techniques. It is important to keep driver’s aware of the newest improvements. It would be helpful for experienced drivers to take classes when they need to get their licence renewed because it would keep them aware of the need to drive safely and how to do so. It is easier to prevent bad driving habits than trying to correct them. There is a stereotype that old people are bad drivers, which could be fixed if they were kept updated on safe driving. Unsafe drivers shouldn’t be tolerated because of the harm they can cause. Keeping drivers updated with the safest way to drive would significantly decrease the amount of accidents and deaths while driving.

To apply this personally, I plan to follow the safe driving techniques I learned in my driver’s education, as well as making sure to not follow the trends of unsafe driving that teenagers are especially prone to. I will not go on my phone at any time during my drive, and I will not be a distracted driver. I am also not afraid to ask my friends to practice safe driving techniques because I care for them and don’t want them to get hurt. Driving responsibly should not be neglected for the sake of popularity or being made fun of by friends. I am so conscious of my safety that I need my seatbelt to be on, even when the car is parked, to feel comfortable. I like feeling safe and secure especially when I am driving.

There are many problems with unsafe driving, and people pay for that everyday. I know that even if I only decide to choose safety, I could keep someone safe. That is important and I hope that an increasing number of people will be able to see the importance of safety and how it can affect others. Everyone has been affected by, or has seen others affected by, irresponsible driving, and that is a problem that needs to be fixed. The number of people’s lives that have been destroyed by driving unsafely can be significantly reduced as long as people stay informed and actively seek out solutions to the problems they see.