Driving towards Safety

Emma Witter

Drivers ed
Scholarship

March 2020

Driving Towards Safety

 I
began learning about driving safety when I was 14, in a community
church. I reported three hours a day, every day, for two weeks. At
14, there was definitely other things I wanted to be doing, in
fact anything would have seemed a better way to spend my June days.
Now, almost three years later, I can understand and appreciate the
importance of those 30 hours of Drivers ed.

In
Drivers ed class, they mainly focused on the importance of
safe driving. It started with the basic, wear your seat-belt, keep
your eyes on the road, don’t be a distracted driver, ect. It seemed
to be all they discussed, being safe while driving. They showed
horrible images and videos of car wrecks, in hope that we would see
the reality of it and become safe drivers ourselves. Personally,
those images scared me, and made me a safer driver by showing me the
danger of driving. I have never experienced a true car crash, other
than I minor fender bender (as a passenger), but even so, I know
people that have lost their lives or had life altering injuries in
car crashes. I use this knowledge to remind myself to stay attentive
and safe while behind the wheel.

For
many people, getting used to driving and going long periods of time
without any crash or car troubles, can make them over confident.
Perhaps reintroducing people to the dangerous part of driving as a
way to “renew” a license would cause safer driving. Making a
short video, or redo of the driving test a requirement for renewing a
license, would make people appreciate driving more, and want to be
safer with it.

Something
that can be very difficult for some people is confronting
irresponsible driving. Peer pressure makes it difficult to tell
people to put the phone down, or not to drive after drinking, this is
something that as a society we need to make a norm, encouraging
people to stand up for the safety of themselves as well as all the
other people on the road. We all are aware of the danger of driving
yet many forget how dangerous it actually is. As a community of
drivers, we need to make roads safer for everyone, pedestrians, other
drivers, bikers, and passengers. All of our safety is important, and
by making drivers more aware of the dangers, the roads will become
safer, and more enjoyable for everyone.