Diminishing Driving Deaths

We all know someone who has been tragically affected as a result of driving, whether it was their error or someone else's. This is why it is so crucial to be aware of how we can prevent these driving fatalities. Driver education classes are important because they help the students not just learn how to drive, but also about the dangers involved. Although sitting in the classroom will not immediately diminish the possibility of driving fatalities, it will make those people more aware of how dangerous it could be. For example, in my driver education class, we watched a lot of videos about drunk driving/drowsy driving/texting & driving. Most of the time, these videos used the pathos appeal to make us viewers get all emotional and startled, which were very effective, even though we weren’t actually on the road at that time. In other words, driver education is important in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving because they make the driver aware and (hopefully) teach them good skills from the beginning. I think that just making sure people are aware and informed of the dangers and causes of these driving-related deaths could really help reduce the number of deaths. Communities could also pass stricter rules about drunk driving or texting and driving, although it may not be as effective as most people would hope. I have never first-handedly experienced a car crash myself, but I have had a few classmates get into car accidents as a result of driving while they were too tired to be driving, or because they were on their phone and not on the road. I have talked with these peers after those accidents, and they’ve all said the same thing: that they are much more careful now about their driving and try their hardest to drive safely because it was so scary for them. I try my hardest to be a good and safe driver, but I’ll admit that sometimes I drive when I shouldn’t be, like when I have to head to work early. When I do this (usually at 4 a.m.), I try to do everything that I can to stay awake and alert, such as blasting the music or A.C., or eating the whole time. I could try to improve my safe driving habits by going to bed earlier on those nights so I’m not as tired, or not getting on my phone at all. Although we all hope that driving-related deaths could just disappear altogether, we must be realistic and know that that is unlikely to happen. The best thing we (as individuals as well as communities) can do is to just be aware of the dangers and try to use our best judgement when we are driving.