Be Prepared, Be Alert, Be Safe; The Importance of Driver's Education

Zarina Lewis

11/30/2019

Drivers Education Initiative Scholarship

Be Prepared, Be Alert, Be Safe; The Importance of Drivers ed

In the US, it is seen as a “Rite of Passage” to receive your driver’s license, as one of the first steps of adulthood. But as a teen goes about obtaining it, they don’t realize the amount of responsibility that’s associated with that plastic card. As a driver, you are responsible for the safety of yourself, pedestrians, and fellow drivers while on the road; the lives of complete strangers are at risk when you aren’t driving responsibly. This is why drivers ed is so crucial to lessening the amount of driving-related deaths in the US. But one must not only learn how to properly drive a vehicle, but also how to operate it responsibly while anticipating/reacting to others actions on the road.

As a driver, you are responsible for maintaining a safe environment on the road, therefore you should take the necessary steps to ensure that you and your vehicle do not pose a threat to any occupant of the road. These steps include taking care of yourself, the operator, by ensuring that you’re not driving under the influence of any drugs, alcohol or sleep deprivation; allowing you to be aware of/react to external stimuli quickly and purposefully. Another step would be to take care of the vehicle; having routine maintenance done to a car ensures that the vehicle is safe to drive, removing 

any possibly dangerous variables from one's mind while driving.

Thankfully, neither my family nor I have been in a car accident. But we were witnesses to a multiple-car crash on an expressway. The driving conditions weren’t the best; the lights were dim due to a city-wide blackout. We heard tires screeching on the tarmac and then a loud crash. We looked from our apartment window to see about 6 cars wrecked on the expressway. Metal scattered across the lanes, while people were limping, their clothes covered in blood. The panic and fear became palpable when we watched adults desperately try and save an injured child stuck in a toppled SUV. The fear, pain and loss experienced that day could have been avoided if that lone driver had been driving more responsibly that night.

In order to prevent events like the previous from occurring, I am determined to become a smarter, safer driver. Steps that I will take to achieve this goal will be to take multiple drivers ed classes and to shadow a family member who drives. I believe that the best way to drive safer is to be skilled/prepared beforehand. The more knowledgeable one is on driving technicalities, the more comfortable one will be with the execution. This allows for them to stay vigilant on the road, and react appropriately in the case of an emergency. But the best way to ensure the safety of others on the road, is to maintain safe driving habits by being a conscientious driver at all times.