Driving: A Lesson in Mortality

Driver education is a vital aspect to the safety of drivers due to the large popularity of driving vehicles in the USA. Requiring drivers to meet a standard of education means that every person on the road will theoretically be safe, as they are all aware of the rules, and those who disregard the rules can be easily caught and handled. If the person does not know the rules and regulations which are required to be known of whilst driving a vehicle, a large metal contraption usually capable of passing dozens of miles every hour, they may inadvertently break a regulation, and thus endanger those around them through their ignorance, as the rules are designed to maintain safety and order for those participating in the activity and those around them – such as their fellow drivers, passengers, and pedestrians also living within the city. Thus, driver education reduces the numbers of deaths relating to vehicles by ensuring every person has a standard of knowledge, keeping people in strict pathways which ensure the safety of those around them and themselves.

However, even if every person is aware of the rules and regulations of driving, that does not mean driving accidents are totally prevented – as seen in the 30,000+ driving fatalities on highways in the USA every year. This could be further prevented by implementing and requiring the learning and following of more stringent rules and regulations for drivers, such as lowered speed limits and increased safety features on cars. Lowered speed limits would decrease the impacts of which cars crash into each other or into objects, increasing possibilities of survival as it gives airbags a longer chance to activate and decreases transferred force to the head and spine. Increased safety features, such as airbags for passengers, would decrease the rates of deaths for passengers in vehicles, particularly large vehicles such as vans and trucks. Increased regulations would decrease the chances of injury and death from driving, producing the results the DMV would wish to see.

An experience I have had with a car crash was the car crash which weakened my grandmother to near death. She was following the law, as she was a law-abiding citizen who was merely driving to Habit Burger (an indulgence of hers) to purchase a burger to have for lunch, when a driver disregarded the basic rule of stopping when the light is red, smashing one car into another. This greatly decreased her health, even though she survived, and is thought to have contributed to her rapid fall into death at a hospital weeks later due to cancer. After the crash, her mental health had greatly deteriorated, and even relatives from hours away, whether by car or by plane, could notice her quickly losing control of herself and her body. As a firm believer of a healthy mind leading to a healthy body, and vice versa, the car crash was a trigger which led to the death of a beloved family member, even if it was not the immediate cause of death. I still miss her to this day, even if she passed away two years ago.

There are many steps I and many others can take to be a better and safer driver as well as help others become safer on the road. For example, ensuring our knowledge of the laws and regulations are maintained even after passing the driving tests, both paper and driving. If people are more aware of the regulations, even after passing, they will be less likely to willingly break the law. Additionally, we can drive below the speed limit, instead of at or above the speed limit, which will decrease the forces of impacts if they were to occur. This will reduce injuries for all parties, even if only one party was participating in the reduced speed. If all parties participated, however, this would significantly reduce the amount of injuries people may take on during impacts, and decrease the chances of impacts through reduced speed (thus allowing for those with decreased reaction times to react, reducing the chances of impact in the first place.)

Driving and its education are two vital aspects to modern day life in the US of A, regardless of whether we enjoy the act of driving or not. The latter acts as a form of precaution and safety for the former, ensuring all drivers on teh road should have a standard level of safety knowledge and driving etiquette in order to fit into a functioning, bustling society of which all of us live within.