For a safer Tomorrow’s roads

For a Safer Road of Tomorrow

What is the
importance of drivers ed in reducing the number of deaths as a
result of driving? I believe that all students in high school should
have to take drivers ed. It should be a required course like
math or science. It should be a required course in the ninth or tenth
grade, whatever the minimum driving age/grade level is. It needs to
be a national standard of teaching in the classroom. Some older
information I came across one time said that 56 percent of teens rely
on their parents to teach them how to drive. If a student transfers
into a school from another state, then the student must pass a
written test with the new state. Required minimum knowledge of the
driver’s handbook and the rules of the road, for that state, should
be mandatory. Driving is an earned right! Moreover, pictures of
actual wreck scenes where drinking or horseplay was involved should
be required.

Some ideas for
the reduction of driving deaths are currently available. We have the
technology and know-how. It is just getting the right people in the
correct spots to get everything together. One idea is that not only
convicted persons, with a history, should have a breathalyzer kill
switch in their vehicle. But all vehicles. They should have
additional back-ups so that no-one else can start the car for them.
New drivers should be on a licensed driver occupant permit for a
certain amount of time. Not only for a “learners permit”
but afterward as well. Then with certain restrictions, some of those
being: How many people, if any, can be in the car with them (after
the time frame), higher fines for phone usage. Maybe even guidelines
for the type of vehicles for beginning drivers. I say this because I
saw a young man (a teen) spin tires at a stoplight and sped off from
the stoplight, and then he could not stop or handle the car, and he
t-boned another vehicle. He hit with such force that the impact broke
a front wheel off and it rolled on into a parking lot and hit a third
car. For this reason, I feel that new drivers should not drive
amped-up cars. His reasoning for the hasty take-off was he was late
for school.

Better drivers become better drivers when they are more cautious and
more mindful of posted speed limits. They try to eliminate any
controllable distractions. Also, doing walkarounds of the vehicle to
look for problems or disturbances. The most important thing is
driving with common sense. On a personal level, I have to thank my
mother for her knowledge of the road. Her work as a
paramedic/firefighter gave her an eye-opener to many accidents. She
could not go into details but would tell of wrecks that she would get
the call to, and what was absent is common sense.

So in closing, if
we respect the road, respect the vehicles, and use some common sense
while driving, then we as a nation can lower the death rates while
driving.