Don't drive like your parents

I’ve only been driving for a little over a year, but I have seen first hand the importance of drivers ed. Once in a while, I am a passenger in a car, not the driver, and I am usually in the front passenger seat. I feel mostly comfortable being a passenger while my friends are driving until……tailgating! When I drive, I stay two or three car lengths away from the car in front of me but many people don’t! I remember learning about how not to tailgate in driver education class but I realize its something that drivers quickly forget. I have seen friends tailgate in rainy weather, icy weather, and congested traffic. Since tailgating can quickly lead to accidents and deaths, I remind the driver about leaving space between the vehicles. This is helpful for the driver in front of you AND yourself. After my reminder, the driver usually slows down to create space but they inform me that their parents drive that way and nothing ever happens! There lies the reason all new drivers need formal drivers ed. Most parents do drive safe, but not safe enough to teach safety and the correct way to control a vehicle on the road. If there was not formalized drivers ed classes, habits of driving, good and bad, would be passed down from family member to family member.

In order to reduce the number of deaths due to driving, new drivers could be asked to participate in a reevaluation once a year for the first three years. This is similar to many evaluation systems in the business/education world. For the first three years, upon the anniversary of their license, new drivers could prove their safe driving through a driving lesson. The focal point of this lesson would be to demonstrate good driving habits, not take away a license. If a driver doesn’t display good driving habits, then good habits will be practiced and reinforced during the lesson. This would reduce the number of deaths simply because people will drive safer longer because they would know the reevaluation date was looming. While I am on the road, I am a focused driver, ignoring all distractions that come my way. In addition, I drive at or near the speed limit, because I feel most in control of my car at that speed. I believe if all drivers followed the speed limit and refrained from distractions, there would be fewer accidents and fewer deaths on our roads.