When I got my permit in April 2024, my parents made it clear that I was to take driver’s education at our school that summer. They wanted to make sure that I was getting the most current instruction in driving to supplement with their instruction. This included classroom instruction, as well as, behind the wheel instruction. Drivers’ education is important because it helps teach you many things about the road. It teaches you about the weather and how to drive when the roads are bad and how to handle your car. It also teaches you about the importance of being safe on the roads and watching where you’re going. We learned a lot of road signs and what they meant, and interstate signs are and how to read them. We learned how highways work and what side to stay on, and how to pass. We had a retired state trooper come and talk to us about staying off our phone and how you can never be too careful behind the wheel and how most accidents are avoidable.
The steps that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving are staying off your phone and being vigilant and limiting the number of distractions you have. You can also avoid driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. You can also stay away from your phone while being in the car. You can put your phone on do not disturb and put it in the back seat or next to you flipped over. If you really feel like you need to look at your phone, you can pull over or into a parking lot and look. You can also limit the number of distractions in you the vehicle. Friends, loud music can be very distracting. It is best if all your attention is on the road. Most of my permit questions were about drinking and driving. Avoiding alcohol while driving will definitely reduce the number of deaths while driving.
The experience I had with someone driving irresponsible was when I was riding home with my friend from school. We stopped at the gas station near us to grab drinks and then she was going to bring me home. Her mom called her and told us another one of our friends had just been in a car accident. We drove over there and found out that a school bus hit the rear right end of her car and pushed her off the road toward a house. The school bus did a rolling stop at a stop sign. No one was hurt in her car or on the bus, but for all of us, it was very scary. If our friend wasn’t watching the road, or she was going faster than she was supposed to, she could’ve been hurt very badly. If the bus driver was driving responsibly, he wouldn’t have hit our friend’s car.
The steps I can take to be a better and safer driver are to stay off my phone, being vigilant while behind the wheel, learning the rules of the road, learning the signs and what they mean, learning the rules of intersections, watching for wildlife (we have a lot of deer!) staying off the road in bad wintery weather, slowing down for work/construction zones and pedestrians. Avoiding drugs and alcohol, especially while driving. I can help others become safer on the road by not overacting and keeping my cool with other drivers, using turn signals when necessary. I can make sure my friends are not drinking and driving by taking their keys and calling them a ride. I can help watch the road, watch for deer, and I can recommend to my younger friends that they take driver’s education, if it is offered to them.
In conclusion, I believe that driver’s education was very beneficial for me to take. I received information from the teacher that my parents may have forgotten to tell me. Some road rules had changed since my parents took their drivers test and the teacher was up to date with the most current rules. The instructor was able to take us highway driving where I got a taste of driving at a higher speed with other vehicles and it taught me to focus and be very aware of my surroundings. All of the things I learned in drivers education will help reduce deaths from driving for me all my classmates. It was defiantly a benefit as I passed my road test on the first try!