Driver Education 2020 – Wheels Up, Phone Down

Olivia Fisher

DmvEdu Scholarship

January 10, 2020

Wheels Up, Phone Down

Car accidents are
any sane person’s worst fear. The part that is the most frightening
is that it could happen to anyone. Drivers ed just helps one
to be more prepared in situations that car accidents occur. I feel
like it is important that everyone takes a drivers ed
course. If everyone does, then all drivers will have the same
education and accidents will be less common. Unfortunately, driver’s
education is not a required course as of right now.

The most common
reason for car accidents is texting while driving. Most drivers think
it is okay to just glance down at their phone to read one small text
but it is absolutely not. There are many apps to stop drivers from
using their phones while driving. Recently the apps are coming
pre-installed on phones. These apps have actually helped in stopping
drivers from checking their messages.

I have actually
experienced this problem first hand and it was quite terrifying.
Before her first car accident, my sister would always text while she
was driving with me in the car. At the time, I was young so I thought
it was normal. She would get so distracted from the messages and
trying to type that she would swerve all over the highway. Then one
night, she got in a car accident. She told us the truth about how she
got caught up in a text that her friend sent her and accidentally
pulled out in front of another vehicle. To this day she does not even
look at her phone while driving.

For me to be safer
on the road, I choose to use the handsfree option that I have in my
car. It is safer because my hands never leave the steering wheel,
even to answer a text. When I receive a text, the car gives me an
option to have it read to me and there is a speech to text button. I
also keep my phone in the storage compartment between my seats, that
way I have no way to be tempted. I still have not been in a car
accident since I got my driver’s license.

If all drivers used
methods like these, the road would be so much safer. Still no matter
how many movements and laws against it, drivers still text and drive.
I always tell my friends to put their phones up while driving. It
makes me feel much better when they listen to me that way I know they
are safe. All of these things are taught in drivers ed courses,
which is why I think they are so important.