In the Driver’s Seat

Driver
Education Initiative 2020

Kaylee
Knigge Tacker

16732
S Avenue 2 ¼ E

(928)580-4723

Yuma,
AZ 85365

Kofa
High School

Did
you know that the number one cause of death is teenage drivers in car
accidents? The importance of drivers ed in order to reduce the
number of deaths as a result of driving is necessary to improve
defensive driving, it is something that is needed and wanted by many
people, and it could help create better and safer drivers. A new
study that followed more than 150,000 teenage drivers over eight
years has found that drivers ed significantly reduces
crashes and traffic violations among new drivers.

The
steps it takes to reduce the amount of deaths are simple. One is
keeping your vehicle in top condition, by ensuring your brakes work,
that your tires are inflated, and that your windows are clean. The
following step would be to try to anticipate the actions of others,
good, drive defensively. The next step is to take steps to protect
yourself and others, by wearing your seatbelt. Next is, to ensure you
drive only when you are in proper physical and mental state, that you
are alert, clear headed. Finally is to make a conscious effort to
develop driving skills. These are 5 simple and essential steps that
could help reduce the amount of lives that are lost from reckless or
improper driving.

Defensive
driving is something I take very seriously now, even when I am not
driving I am cautiously viewing the road ahead of me, prepared to let
the driver know of something they may not have been expecting. The
thing is I used to never be this way until I experienced a car
accident myself, and it is something that can seriously change your
view on. In my car accident they had said that I had run the red
light, and I was hit from my side of the vehicle. I had been on the
phone with my mom and she heard me scream over the phone when I was
hit. I honestly believed that the light had turned green. I got a
ticket and had to welcome myself to traffic school. A big regret of
mine is that the car accident ever happened; now I don’t have a
vehicle and have to make arrangements for when I have cheer practice,
work, and school.

Defensive
driving is something everyone can improve. After I had gone to
traffic school, I learned to never have my phone near me, that if I
begin to feel exhausted while driving it is okay to find a place to
pull over. It is okay to be overly cautious when it comes to your own
life. It is something that more people should want to be cautious
about. We would want to learn how to drive defensively to be able to
protect ourselves, and our loved ones; it also is a well known way to
reduce the amount of deaths that we see every year in the United
States from motorized vehicles.