Drivers ed Initiative Award: In the Driver’s Seat

Maximiliano
Lugo Pagan

3/24/2020

Driver
Education Initiative Award: In the Driver’s Seat

The
importance of drivers ed is following laws and not to be
distracted. At the age of 15, you are allowed to be a learner’s
permit. This means that you need to have an adult present to operate
a vehicle. Students go to a driving school where they are taught how
to become a safe driver. Accidents are caused every day by operators,
not by the vehicles themselves. As the years go by, automakers have
stepped up their technology for their help to prevent accidents.
Nowadays, distractions are caused by cellular devices. Everyone wants
to be texting or scrolling through their social media, which is an
easy way to be involved in an accident. What drivers should be able
to do is to put their phones away, it makes everyone else on the road
feel safer.

Steps
that should be used to prevent deaths in automotive accidents would
have to be; to stop texting and drive, and to not be driving under
the influence. When you are using your phone while driving, you lose
sight of what is in the road ahead of you. Things happen so fast, you
don’t even know how much damage can be caused if not paying
attention. When driving under the influence, it can lead to fatal
accidents. Your mind is not in the right place to drive any type of
machinery. You are not focused on the road, and you are just
hallucinating. Driving while texting and under the influence is
entirely horrible. The chances of you getting into an accident are
extremely high because of the severity of your state of mind.

I,
myself, have been involved in a vehicular accident. It happened two
years ago while I was on vacation, visiting family members. I was
heading to the beach when I got rear-ended while I was sleeping on
the back seat. It was a terrifying situation because our vehicle was
a rental, we were not in our home city, and we were all just shaken
up by the incident. The person that had hit us was a woman speeding,
tailgating behind us, and was on Facebook. When a red light
approached, we started to brake. She did not notice and ended up
rear-ending us. Luckily, nothing fatal happened due to the fact she
braked but not on time. This is why, to this day, I say that
distracted driving should be prevented. There have
been so many drivers who have lost their lives due to distracted
driving.

A
way for me to become a better driver would have to be to make sure I
am watching my surroundings. When driving, you are supposed to be
looking straight forward and making sure you know what is ahead of
you before crashing into something. Drivers tend to forget to check
their mirrors or blind spots to see if anyone is around them. You
need to check your surroundings to make sure it is safe to turn or
switch lanes. To become a safer driver on the road, avoid being
distracted. Always know what is around your vehicle. Also, avoid ever
picking up the phone, social media can wait. If you are under the
influence and want to drive, make sure you have someone sober drive
you or an Uber to take you home. If the weather is too dangerous,
stay home. It makes it safer for your loved ones to know that you are
at home rather than dealing with fatal weather.