The Three A’s of Safe Driving

In my home state of Louisiana, it is mandated that everyone take some sort of driver’s ed course prior to their driver’s exam for their license, but people don’t always follow this mandate. The frame of mind of most people around my age (15-18 years old) here is that driver’s ed in unnecessary and pointless towards their qualifications to drive. However, taking these mandated classes can give many phenomenal benefits provided that they are focused during the class. As a result the number of automobile-related deaths each year could hopefully drop.

As mentioned, taking a driver’s education class has a host of benefits for learners to receive. These include a confidence boost and more general knowledge regarding drugs and alcohol, mechanics of their cars, and road rules. I can attest to this boost in confidence. Prior to taking one of these classes, I was very nervous about learning to drive because of the sheer amount of knowledge that I had yet to learn. My “driving ignorance” scared me and my parents, causing both parties to be quite nervous. I was aware of how big a responsibility driving was, and I believe that the knowledge gained during this class has made me more confident and better at decision making. I’m sure thousands of others have felt the same confidence boost that I did regarding driving.

Overall these benefits could potentially reduce the amount of automobile related deaths each year. In general, it is to the benefit of everyone if new drivers are better-equipped and better-educated before taking the wheel. Having inexperienced, ignorant drivers poses a risk to everyone involved on the road. As a seventeen year-old resident of Louisiana, I can confirm that no one my age sees driver’s education as something they need. This shows that they think they are either already qualified enough or that the punishments put in place for unlicensed driving aren’t severe enough.

Something I hear often is that, “If the cops don’t/can’t catch me, it isn’t illegal.” or that “I’m so good that they can’t even tell I’m unlicensed.” These are dangerous mindsets to have that can lead to many harmful habits or hobbies down the road. This also means that we need to ramp up cops’ abilities to detect an unqualified driver. It is becoming harder and harder to distinguish based on looks or driving ability who is an unlicensed driver and who isn’t. Personally, I have ridden with licensed drivers that either look younger than the legal age to drive, or they drive like they haven’t taken a driver’s ed class in their life. I have also seen drivers that are actually too young, but they drive like they have been driving for many years. Somehow, though, cops must learn or take on additional training to distinguish unlicensed drivers from licensed ones. A change such as this can keep inexperienced individuals off the road leading to a safer driving environment for all.

The punishments, or lack of awareness of these, are also to blame here. As of now, these punishments include up to 6 months in jail and/or up to $500 in fines. Obviously these individuals either don’t know the punishments, or they deem these punishments non threatening. One solution could be to raise the punishment that an offender would receive. Driving is always a choice, and when an unlicensed individual drives, they weigh their reasons for doing so versus the potential consequences they may face. To tilt the scales, individuals could either serve more jail time or pay a higher fine. Another perspective of these punishments is that unlicensed drivers are unaware of these consequences. Governments, organizations, or anyone in power must give a higher push for driver’s education attendance in order to keep unqualified drivers out from behind the wheel. Society, as a whole, has adopted a mentality of conformity meaning that if someone/something in power promotes something, then they are likely to abide by these urges.

Someone’s driving habits can tell a lot about their priorities, and I have had to deal with some of the worst ones. When driving, the driver should be fully focused on the road to keep them and everyone else in the car safe, but many drivers choose harmful and distracting habits to practice as they drive such as texting, listening to loud music, eating, or other similar practices. Sadly, there are many drivers I’ve ridden with that have these habits. Not only does this mean that they are not fully focused on driving, it also shows that they value something else more than the passengers safety and their own. No matter how experienced of a driver you are, distractions such as these cause thousands of accidents each year, and eliminating them can save many lives.