Independence, Integrity, and Innovation

When I was taking my behind-the-wheel courses, one of my instructors told me that driving is a privilege, not a right. At first, I was confused because, by legality, the people of the United States are allowed to drive so long as they are above the age of 16 and have a license. However, after obtaining my license, I have come to see what he meant: there are numerous drivers across the United States that drive in such a way that is a danger to themselves and a danger to those around them. Steps to being a safe and educated driver are obeying the rules and laws of the road, being proactive, and being observant.

There are many ways to obtain one’s license. Most people prefer to have their license at the ripe age of 16. In my home state of Colorado, acquiring a license at this age requires preemptive courses on the rules of the road around the ages of 14.5-15 to obtain their driver’s permit as well as time behind the wheel with an instructor who is not one’s parents once they have received said permit. Most of the preemptive courses are taught in a classroom setting where the professor is in the front of the room teaching the young students through lecture and PowerPoint notes. This is extremely important because the professor is someone who has been in the field a while, much like the teachers the students interact with at school daily. This often gives a sense of respect to said professor from the students because there is knowledgeability flowing from the professor that the students tap into. This also gives the students a setting in which it is okay to ask questions because they will not be looked down upon by someone like their parents who feel as if they should already know such rules because they have driven them around for 14.5-15 years of their lives. Also in a classroom setting, there is more than one student learning these rules. As humans, most are naturally competitive, so this setting provides the opportunity for some healthy competition, seeing who can pass their driver’s test with the least number of points, who can pass their permit test on the first try, who can go the longest without getting a ticket, etc. Having that sort of friendly competition can help reduce such events as accidents and/or deaths by car. Therefore, driver’s education is so important. It teaches youths how to drive without pressure from their parents as well as providing some friendly rivalry between them to see who can drive the safest.

Most of the safest drivers are those who do take proactive measures to ensure a safe driving experience. Some elements that said drivers focus on are making sure they are not driving when they do not “feeling well,” which includes stress and fatigue; making sure they are not tailgating another driver; and making sure they are driving with extra caution in dangerous conditions; focusing on driving; not drinking and driving (especially alcohol, but anything, really); not texting/calling while driving; and giving oneself plenty of time to get somewhere; and not driving while aggravated. When one is in a state of stress or aggravation, their mind tends to wander. This causes the driver to not be paying attention to the road, instead thinking about what it is that made them stressed. By not paying attention to the road, numerous things could happen, including car accidents, not paying attention to elements such as other cars driving and traffic signs and light, and deaths of pedestrians and drivers alike. I am not sure about other states, but, in Colorado, there are so many accidents, especially on the highways, where there is a three+ car pile-up because one person rear-ended another because of not paying attention, tailgating, or being impatient. Most of the time, this is because the initial car was riding the bumper of the car in front of them. It is extremely important to leave room between cars to prevent an accident such as this. By tailgating someone, the space between bumpers in not enough to stop a car going 65/75 miles per hour (mph). It also means that the car that is tailgating has to slam on their brakes, giving a small amount time for the car behind them to react to them pressing on the brakes. Now, there are many people within my friends and family who tailgate, and it scares me every time traffic hits on the highway because I never know if we are going to stop in time or if the car behind us is going to stop in time. It is a scary experience, and by being proactive and not tailgating someone, it can be prevented. Another precautionary measure that numerous responsible drivers take is taking caution in unruly driving conditions. These conditions may be weather related or geographically related. Especially in the snow and rain, the water fills the gaps in the asphalt that usually cause friction against the wheels of the car. However, when these gaps fill, the friction is reduced, causing the car to not be able to stop as in the time it usually does. Therefore, driving slower in these conditions is a must. Runaway, sliding cars can cause numerous accidents because the driver is not able to control the car; however, by driving slower, the driver is able to control the car and prevent said accidents. Another precautionary measure to take in drastic weather conditions is staying further back. This goes hand-in-hand with tailgating because if a car tailgates another and said car is unable to stop due to the reduction of friction, boom, there is an accident that just happened. I saw this first-hand earlier this year when driving on the highway. It was really snowy on the roads (because the city does an awful job at cleaning their roads), and this car lost control of itself, rear-ending the car in front of it, causing that car to slide into the car in front of it and so on until there were nine cars that had slid from the most left lane to the most right lane of the highway, leaving all nine cars totaled. Another extreme weather condition that hit Colorado this past year was wind. Winds this year reached 107mph in some places, causing numerous trucks to be overturned and stuck on the side of the road, and the emergency services were unable to reach them in a timely manner due to the high winds and the amounts of cars and trucks that were overturned. Eventually, the state decided to pull semi-trucks off the highway and holding them at rest stops and gas stations across the state. If the state had allowed the semi-trucks to continue their regular scheduled course, there would have been many more overturned trucks on the sides of the highways. Another car accident that I did not have the chance to witness, thank goodness, but that got taken to court was the case of a runaway semi-truck on the highway. There is one section of highway in Colorado that takes people across the Continental Divides (there are more than one), and because the road is taking them across the Rocky Mountains, there are many parts that are extremely steep. Semi-trucks and even cars can lose control of their braking while on these roads because of the steepness of the mountain. Therefore, the state built runaway truck ramps that anyone can use to get their vehicles to slow down and even stop. However, there was one truck driver earlier this year that lost control of his breaks and refused to use the runaway truck ramp. In this end, this caused the death of four people as well as the hospitalization of many others involved in the crash. Because of the fatality of the crash and the refusal to use the runaway truck ramp, the driver was taken to court and sentenced 110 years in prison. There are, of course, more common causes of accidents, including, drinking and driving; and texting/calling and driving. These two things are distractions to the person driving, causing their focus not to be on the road and thus may lead to accidents and fatalities. I have been lucky enough to not have been in an accident, but I do also take these measures, and they seem a little excessive, but they are beneficial. Proactiveness helps reduce the number of deaths and fatalities related to driving

Part of driver’s education is tike behind-the-wheel with an instructor. During this time, they teach their students how to watch the other and themselves on the road. One element I remember them drilling into my head was looking in my rearview mirror every time I passed an intersection. This is important because it lets the driver know who has turned into their lane and whether they feel safe driving in front of this person. They told me that if I ever felt unsafe to either pull off and let them pass me or change lanes if it is clear for me to do so. That is, I feel, one of the main purposed of driver’s education: make the driver feel safe behind the wheel. If the driver feels safe, then they can take the necessary measures to make the other drivers around them feel safe as well. Thus, driver’s education is important in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving.

Being a safe driver is not as easy as it seems; however, with the right measures, it is actually fairly simple. Driving is a huge responsibility to hand to a 16-year-old child, but, once they learn how to be safe on the roads, the roads become a happy place. Through obeying the rules and laws of the road, being proactive, and being observant said 16-year-old can be one of the safest people on the roads, helping others feel safer in the process.