Name: Jaidan Hines
From: Boulder, Colorado
Votes: 0
Steps
to Becoming a Better and Safer Driver
Imagine
a highway full of newly licensed teens. What comes to mind is any
Michael Bay film. Cars flying overhead in flaming balls of fire, only
extinguished by the onslaught of speeding cars. Or even more
unfavorable the humdrum of bumber to bumber traffic. Your blood
pressure would only spike at such a thought. But why does this come
to mind and not an image of bliss? The reason because is of the
inexperience that could only be solved with years of practice. Making
mistakes is common to learning anything new, but with a ton of metal
capable of speeding at hundreds of miles, mistakes aren’t taken
lightly. It’s one thing to miss a question on a test for not paying
attention but it’s completely different to make that same mistake
driving and end up killing yourself or those around you. Driver
education is essential to driving. It greatly reduces the chances of
fatal mistakes. Crucial steps can be taken to reduce these chances
but only to an extent. Sometimes accidents may be impossible to avoid
but having a greater understanding of driving could save your life.
Driver
education is crucial to reducing the number of deaths caused from
driving. Someone unknowledgeable to the rules of the road would not
know what to do in many situations affecting the safety of themselves
and those around them. You would also have to be wary of the people
you allow to drive you, like a friend or family member. The needed
amount of caution is often discarded when driving someone your trying
to have fun with or impress. Research from Edgar Snyder’s Personal
Injury Law Firm support this claim. “Auto accidents are the leading
cause of death for teens ages 15-20. When teen drivers ride with
other passengers, their risk of being in a fatal car crash doubles.
Overall, teenagers underestimate or are unable to recognize hazardous
driving conditions.” Crucial steps can be taken to lessen the
chance of you becoming another cautionary statistic. The most
important step is to build an adept knowledge of driving rules and
experience. Another essential step is to keep your attention on the
road at all times. Multi-tasking is a distraction that takes the
focus away from whats happening around you. Go the speed limit, it’s
a simple task to process but the objective of going to a location
faster is hardwired in all of our brains. We are active beings with
sometimes unmanageable schedules. Needing to finish a task as soon as
possible causes for someone to speed but how much does speeding have
an affect on how fast you reach your location. A study at NM Justice
Law found the results. “15-mile trip, 55 mph speed limit, 10 miles
over the speed limit: 2.51 minutes saved. 30-mile trip, 55 mph speed
limit, 10 miles over the speed limit: 5.04 minutes saved. 50-mile
trip, 55 mph speed limit, 10 miles over the speed limit: 8.4 minutes
saved.” Risking the safety of yourself and those around you would
not be worth it morally or efficient in saving time. Another step in
reducing the number of deaths driving would be to drive defensively
and to keep your road rage under control. Unnecessary aggressive
driving only leads to regrettable decisions. Just take a deep breath
and cool down before taking your anger out on the road or other
vehicles and drivers around you.
Accidents
may be impossible to avoid. I remember when I was younger, my uncle
was driving my cousins and I to their house when the vehicle in front
of us suddenly and unexpectedly stopped. Luckily he was able to brake
in time but the car behind us wasn’t as successful and slammed into
the rear of his van. No one was injured, thankfully, but this
experience could have been completely avoided. Being well established
into the driver rules both drivers would have been allowed more time
to process and make the right choice in the situation. The best
athletes reaction times range from .12-.60 seconds. They are trained
in making quick choices but are still involved in accidents. The
average person’s reaction time is double this amount totaling at .25
seconds or more causing for even less time to react. If a well
trained athlete processes events faster but are still involved in
accidents, increasing your reaction time isn’t the solution.
Heightening your understanding of driver rules can greatly increase
your chances of safety. Planning ahead is an important step. Everyone
is always late causing increases in speeds and distracted driving.
Waking up just a little earlier would greatly help in your commute.
Doing this helps slow down your need for speeding focuses your
attention gives you extra time in case of accidents and the need for
extra gas. Keeping your distance is also important for driver safety.
Two car lengths or three seconds apart from the car in front of you
is a good rule of thumb for nice weather, but with bad weather
doubling the distance is advised. Paying attention to the flow of
traffic and looking far ahead help in decreasing your chances of
being involved in an accident. If you can predict what speed you
would be progressing through your route you can better plan for what
to expect. The greatest problems facing youthful drivers are drinking
while driving and texting and driving. These seem like common sense
decisions but there are many people that still decide to get behind
the wheel while influenced by these choices.
The
amount of safety needed for driving is grand but the importance of it
is very prominent. One false move and it could mean the end of your
life or others. Drivers ed helps to reduce the number of
possible deaths that are caused from driving but without actively
using the driver safety steps intentionaly your chances of being in
an accidient escalates. Accidents may be unavoidable at times but by
purposely setting precautions the chance of being involved in an
accidient lessens drastically.
