Be a Safe Driver

Drivers ed is very crucial to being a safe driver. Knowing the
risks of driving and ways to keep yourself safe can ultimately save
your life. As of 2019 there 276 million vehicles driving on roads in
the United States and along with all of those vehicles there are
around two million drivers in car accidents that experience permanent
injuries every year¹.
With millions of cars on the road every day, there are bound to be
accidents but you can prevent them by having a good drivers ed.
Being aware of the current situation on roads will keep drivers safe
because they will be well aware of the dangers.

Being aware of
your surrounds is the biggest solution to reduce the number of
driving related fatalities. This means not being on a cellphone while
driving, stopping completely at stop signs, checking blind spots,
being aware of what drivers are doing around you, and paying
attention to pedestrians. According to driving-tests.org the number
of pedestrian fatalities increased by 27% from 2007 to 2016².
The website continued to state that pedestrians have accounted for a
large percentage of traffic fatalities in the past 33 years. These
deaths occurred because a driver wasn’t aware of their surroundings
and these deaths could have prevented.

I have
personally been in three accidents has a result of my poor and
irresponsible driving. Although for one accident I wasn’t at fault,
I could have done my job as a defensive driver to avoid the accident.
Both accidents I was ticketed for happened because I wasn’t aware
of my surrounds. I was hit in my first accident for not yielding to a
car that had the right of way and my third accident happened because
I so busy trying to see if I could change lanes that I wasn’t
paying attention to the car stopping in front of me and I rear ended
them. I know from personal experience that being a safe driver is not
only important to yourself but to everyone else on the roads with
you.

I know that to be a safe driver I need to not accelerate fast, be
distracted, break hard, or be tired. Accelerating at a reasonable
speed and braking at a logical time allows me to be more aware of my
surroundings and keeps the drivers around me safe. Being well rested
while driving will help me be more attentive, and some people will
tell me to turn up my music or think of something while driving but
really the only solution is getting enough sleep every day. Dozing
off and getting tired while driving is very dangerous. Also I know
that staying focused while driving will keep me safe because there is
a lot going on while driving and focusing on the road and not the
pretty house I just passed will keep me and others very much safe.