Driving is an activity which requires a heightened awareness, as collisions could impact and end many lives, not just your own. The importance of driver’s education is felt throughout the world, as the death toll for automobiles only rises with the years. In the area that I live in, there is no required drivers ed course to get a license, however, faulty driving happens often here. Driver’s Ed would prove beneficial to new drivers, as it shows them exactly what to do and how to navigate certain situations on the road. With that being said, there is still a rising death count happening on the roads of today. To quell this death count, drivers ed classes should be more mandatory in schools, and distracted driving should be taken out of the picture. While many states have laws against distracted driving, the enticing buzz of the phone, the alluring melodies pouring from the stereo, and the excitable chatter of the vehicle’s passengers are all compelling factors of distracted driving, which could impact the lives of the people both in the car and in the cars alongside the drivers cruising beside them on the roadways. Each driver will have differing distractors, but they are all similar in their ability to lead to negative consequences.
For me personally, my biggest distraction from the road ahead is letting my mind wander/staring at the scenery outside of the windshield while on a long, constant stretch. This distraction could be detrimental to my performance, as both my awareness and reaction times would be significantly inhibited as a result of this wandering. Despite this immersion, this state does not take away my entire functionality on the road, however; I have been slow/hesitant on a couple of turns due to this inhibition. My less frequent distractor is a hyper-awareness of the speed and brake pedal, as I constantly worry when I feel as if I am traveling too fast (despite the fact that I am still well-below the speed limit). Often, I find myself with my foot always hovering over the brake, rather than pressing the gas. This motion is caused by a heightened fear of a situation in which I speed up to an uncontrollable degree and become unable to gain influence over my own wheel, which would subsequently cause a painful and destructive collision. While this is the lesser of the two distractions, it still plagues me when driving in a populated area. To combat this bad daydreaming habit, I seek to pay an exceptionally close attention to my surroundings, reminding myself constantly to remain aware of the road ahead, as my conscious drifting could lead to the deaths of me and my passengers/surroundings. To fight off the anxiety and extreme awareness of my speed, I will take mental notes to stay at a speed of which I am at a comfortable yet acceptable distance between the cars in front and behind of me. I will take notice of the speed limit, picking up the pace when lagging far behind and letting up on the brake pedal when this dragging begins to occur. I will also remove my foot from the brake pedal, as I always have it lingering over the pedal, in an attempt to resolve my bad slowing/braking problem. Since both of my issues come from overthinking within my mind, I will take extra steps to dispel my immersion and to amplify my focus. These precautions will help both in making me a better driver, and in protecting the lives of those who are driving alongside me on the roads ahead. The acceptance and correction of these flaws by drivers would make the roads a safer place for everyone, not just the people that surround me. Even though every driver has differing issues, there is one more step that would help to improve everybody’s driving habits and experience. The last and most repeated step throughout this essay is to seek a drivers education program. These casualties can be lowered if there are more responsible and educated drivers filling the roads, rather than a road system full of novices with no prior guidance. With that proper guidance and teaching, the roads would become a much safer and less hectic place to take trips on, to work on, or to just commute on. Overall, the issue with uninstructed driving is a plague that has cost many lives and will continue to do so if left uninstructed.