Name: Erin Gilbert
From: San Diego, California
Votes: 1
As
someone, like many others, who rushed to get my license as soon as
possible, the idea, and use, of driver’s safety was just a means to
an end. I knew plenty of adults who had disregarded safety rules,
such as seatbelt wearing, precise stops, and other small things and
had been in few accidents.I wasn’t planning to consciously go out
of my way to be an unsafe driver, but safe driving wasn’t a major
concern after finally being given my license. I assumed that as long
as I followed the laws everything would be fine. It had never
occurred to me that being a defensive driver would be a useful skill
to obtain or that I could be a victim of an accident.
I
experienced my first car accident this past year in October. I was
driving alone, only seventeen years old, and was hit by an individual
pulling out of a parking lot at far too high of a speed. My car was
totalled, though I walked away from the accident with no injuries.
The accident has completely changed my view on driver’s training
and safety.
First
of all, driver safety training and education is pivotal. If driving
laws were always followed, accidents would only be caused by
unforeseen weather and car malfunctions. changes need to be made to
the way kids are taught. Instead of kids being taught that it’s
something they must learn to get their license, it should be taught
that this is what they must practice to create a safe environment for
everyone. Beyond that, driver training should be more accessible. I
was lucky enough to have it offered at my high school for free, but
now that it’s no longer offered, my younger family members must pay
to complete the course online, where little is learnt. Other family
members have even chosen to wait until they were eighteen toskip the
courses entirely, a not uncommon occurrence. If we want kids to learn
how to avoid accidents and the resulting deaths and injuries, we need
to provide an educational setting that everyone can easily be apart
of.
It
might also be helpful to consider making defensive driving courses
more common or integrating defensive driving into a typical driving
training course to help prevent more accidents. I’m sure defensive
driving techniques were mentioned in my driving training, though I
may not have recognized it. Had more emphasis been placed on this,
perhaps we would have more defensive drivers and less accidents. Most
individuals, such as myself, only become defensive drivers after an
accident. Now, I’m constantly watching mirrors, moving into emptier
lanes, stopping farther back, and most commonly watching wheels of
stopped cars to make sure no one pulls out when they shouldn’t be.
If everyone drove with the mindset of “safety first”, accident
rates would see a dramatic decrease. The key to safe driving and
reduced deaths as a result of driving is education and enforced
application.
