Drivers’ education is important for the driver’s safety and for others on the road. Drivers’ education not only teaches drivers how to safely operate their vehicle, but it also teaches them about reactions and how to react to certain situations. Drivers education teaches you that sometimes, accidents are unavoidable, but you can change the outcome of the accident.
When I took drivers education, we learned about reactions and how they can change everything when you are behind the wheel. If a vehicle driving in the opposite direction is heading towards your vehicle, what should you do? Although in the perfect world there would be a straightforward answer to that question, this is not a perfect world. No one can tell you what to do in that situation. The driver is the one responsible for making that split second decision and the outcome depends severely on that decision. Maybe there is room to safely maneuver your vehicle into a different lane. Maybe there is an opportunity to veer the vehicle off of the road. Maybe there is not. Drivers’ education taught me that there is no wrong or right answer. I learned that one answer might just be more correct than the others.
One time, about a year after I got my driver’s license, a similar situation happened to me. I was driving southbound and a driver from the northbound lane decided to pass a semi-truck that was in front of them. The problem was that they did not leave themselves enough time to pass and I was faced with making the split-second decision that could save mine and my passengers’ life. Luckily, I made the right decision, and no one got hurt. In my situation, there was some flat ground off the shoulder of the road. I was able to steer the car towards the shoulder, so the other vehicle was able to pass and not cause an accident.
I think most of the deaths related to driving are because of reactions. With that being said, I think that the number of deaths could be reduced by making vehicles safer and by teaching students about reactions. No one knows how someone is going to react. It is even hard to predict how yourself is going to react in a game time situation. If vehicles are safer, there can be less concern about what the outcome will be if and when someone does get into an accident. If students are taught about reactions, they can be more prepared if they are ever in a scary situation.
I have been in a car accident. It was 6 months to the day of when I got my drivers license. No other vehicles were involved I was not hurt. I was driving on icy roads in February, and I came to up a curve and did not slow down enough. My car slid into the guardrail on the opposite side of the road. This was a very scary experience for me, and I was a little nervous to drive again but, in a way, I was thankful that this had happened to me. I was glad that I was able to experience what can happen on icy roads since I did not get hurt. It is not easy to demonstrate how to drive in certain weather conditions if those conditions are not present while you are taking the drivers’ education classes. This experience also taught me the importance of having good tires. In my situation, having brand new tires would not have stopped the accident from happening but I learned that the less tread there is on your tires, the slower your vehicle will slow down.
There are a lot of things that one can do to make them a safer driver. Some important things are to pay attention, do not drive faster than the posted speed limit and wear your seatbelt. Distracted driving is a huge cause of deaths related to driving. Cell phones in vehicles can be very dangerous. Drivers should avoid using their phones while they are driving. If for some reason you do need to use your phone while you are driving, either connect your phone to your car with Bluetooth so you can make calls or pull over if Bluetooth is not an option. Distracted driving is not only dangerous for the driver, but also for other drivers on the road.
Drivers’ education taught me a lot, but there are some things that cannot be taught in a classroom and drivers must figure them out on their own once they start driving. Reactions are everything when it comes to driving. Drivers can also be safer by driving the speed limit and wearing their seatbelt.