Name: Nina Marie Schifano
From: St. Louis , Missouri
Votes: 0
Saving
Lives with Driving Education
Dangerous driving
habits are everywhere. I grew up watching my parents texting while
they drove. Now that I am driving myself, I see other drivers turning
without using turn signals, I have to bicker with my sister to get
her to wear her seatbelt, and I hear kids my age bragging about their
speeds of 80 mph and up on roads with a 60 mph speed limit. People
seem to forget that when they are driving, they are operating a heavy
machine that can easily create immense damage, which is why driving
education is incredibly important.
My mom grew up in
Germany, and she talks constantly about the driving classes every
student was required to take before being allowed to operate a
vehicle. For high school students in Missouri, especially for
students like me who attend a private school, this class is
nonexistent, and the only thing required to get a license is a short
written test and the driving test. However, these tests do not
adequately prepare one for the dangers of the road. What should I do
when an ambulance turns on their sirens and tries to pass me on a
busy highway, for example? What if the roads are icy and I start to
lose control of the wheel? How about if a deer runs into the road?
There are so many emergency situations that occur on the road that
can lead to tragic accidents, which is why driving education is so
essential, especially for young drivers who do not have the
experience necessary to handle these situations. If only we could
adequately train our young drivers, we could drastically reduce the
mortalities that result from these emergency situations.
Emergency
situations, however, are not the only driving experiences that lead
to fatal accidents. Sometimes, people get into terrible car accidents
in completely normal driving situations. In these cases, distractions
are usually the culprit: cell phones, the radio, noisy friends in the
car. Young drivers are especially vulnerable to these distractions,
as they often do not take driving seriously and do not give it the
attention it requires, leading to terrible consequences. This is
another reason why driving education is so important. If we only help
young drivers understand how dangerous the roads actually are, then
they will put down their phones and turn off overly distracting
music. They will take driving seriously.
Since we do not currently have the driving education necessary to
create safe young drivers, it is up to individuals to ensure everyone
is driving safely. Personally, I can take certain steps to ensure
that my peers and I are all driving safely. Turning my phone off
before driving, and encouraging my fellow classmates to do so as
well, for example, would be a great first step to limiting
distractions on the road and reducing driving fatalities. The roads
are a dangerous place, so we must all do our part in making them as
safe as they can be.
