Driving Education Scholarship

Samantha McGinness

03/24/20

Driving Education Scholarship

Did
you know that 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is
caused by texting and driving. Cell phone use while driving leads to
1.6 million crashes each year. Many people can admit that in 2020,
the permit and drivers test can be pretty easy. I believe the
majority of licensed drivers are unfit to drive. With the technology
today, people have many opportunities to study for their
permit/drivers test. This education offered to not only young drivers
but anyone trying to receive a license, should be taking it more
seriously. In a study done with young drivers in 2020 so far, 20% of
those studied claim to be “not familiar at all” with their
state’s texting while driving laws. Our states education isn’t just
for texting and driving but any law that is important for the safety
of yourself and others on the road. Many steps could be taken to
insure the safety of our drivers. Such as, drivers should be held to
a higher standard when taking the permit test or going out for their
drivers license. More questions should be added to the permit test in
general and added questions should be about the drivers state laws
and how important safe driving is. Also, the drivers test should be
longer and the participating driver should be taught more during
their ride with a driving instructor. Things such as, merging,
checking your blind spot, and even keeping a safe distance between
you and the car in front of you are many things that cause accidents
while driving. Although I have never been in a car accident, my
father has been in a bad one due to unsafe driving. He was driving on
the highway and a young adult was texting on his phone while driving.
Without checking his blind spot before he merged, he rammed right
into the front bumper of my dads car causing my dad to brake, which
lead to the car behind him hitting him from behind. This all ended
with my dad rolling his car into the grass space between the two
highways. Luckily no one was seriously injured however it was an
extremely scary time for our family. I can even admit that before
this accident I would use my phone to change the music or answer
phone calls, but now I look at my dads accident and realize that even
doing those smalls things that you think only take a second could
seriously injure you or someone around you. I know those are the
steps I have taken to become a safer driver, along with sharing that
story with my friends has helped with many of them to stop being
distracted while driving. If you are willing to listen to someone
tell you about safe driving and admit to yourself that maybe you
don’t always drive safely, well even that can be the first step in
creating a safer road for everyone.