Importance of Driving Education

Driver Education is how many people can get their license or permit if it is offered at their school. But how important is it actually? Driver education allows for people to be more understanding of road safety, such as why turning your blinker on is actually important. But just because you teach this to people it does not mean they will actually enforce this. For a lot of people, it is not thoroughly understood how bad things can get if someone is not diving safely. Especially driving under the speed limit, people are so worried about those who speed they miss the fact that those who drive slow tend to cause more accidents. Even if they are not the ones who are in it. So, a way to help this would be to help these drivers understand how bad these things are. Help them understand that even something as small as not turning your blinker on can lead to horrible accidents. I took a driver’s Education course during my sophomore year of high school, and when being taught how bad drinking and driving is, I was shown videos of people explaining what happened when they did that. The people who are spending years in jail because they killed someone doing so. If it did not work for everyone, it worked on most, after being told such horrible stories I can gladly say I will never drink and drive. So why not do this with everything?

It is very likely that most people have at least seen people they know driving poorly or irresponsibly. A friend of mine likes to speed constantly and is also quick to get upset and make an attempt to speed off. But, by doing this they got into an accident and rearended the person who upset them. Being unable to wait or be understanding is a huge issue when it comes to drivers. Another friend of mine is also always speeding, averaging 60+ MPH, even when the speed limit is 30 MPH. I am only aware of him getting into one accident due to not being able to brake in time, but the constant swerving and cutting off cars can soon lead to a worse accident. Possibly resulting in someone’s death. Now these two have never dealt with any sort of punishment for their reckless driving, so they continue to drive this way. Something, that does not allow someone else to get hurt, needs to help them understand how what they do can kill someone. Now one of my family members, did not exactly do anything wrong, but had been drinking. When she got into the car, she realized she was too drunk to drive so she pulled over, and then called a friend to get her. Now, the issue here is that she stayed in the driver’s seat with the car on, meaning when a cop came up to her, she got a ticket for it. Now, because this happened, she had improved and made sure that any time she drank someone was there to take her home, or she sat in the back seat of the car.

When looking at this, I want to compare it to someone in my family who deeply understands safe driving and the things you learn in driver education, my dad. He understands all the laws and what you need to do to be safe on the road. He turns on his blinker, for turning or changing lanes. He also makes sure to drive within the speed limit/flow of traffic, so he is not the cause of an accident. When it comes to me driving, I try to drive like him, I also ask him questions, or he will correct my mistakes while I drive. I would like to say that all the knowledge I gained while taking a driver’s education course has been put to use. And any time I see that I need to improve I try to fix it. For those who are close to me, I often try and teach them safer ways of driving, or even tell them new information I have learned. Getting others to listen to me is hard since I am not the actual teacher and am still considered a child. But I will keep pushing for it and keep fighting for others to learn and listen. Drivers’ education is a great way for there to be safer drivers on the streets, we cannot get everyone to listen, and it is like that for everything. But if we can get most to listen the death rates can drop. People can have less anxiety about going on the road.

Drivers’ education is only the beginning, we need more drivers to listen. Drivers’ education should also be required, once many get their permit they do not go back to any sort of education in driving because they believe they no longer need it. Creating a required course that you must take every few years can help, it can also help drivers know how to drive safely with all the new technology around us.