In the 21st century, it’s easy for a child or early teen to take their parents’ or siblings’ driving for granted. In these early stages of life, the details of driving can be one of the last things that many children think about, if at all. With the advent of smartphones to keep children occupied whilst being driven in a vehicle, along with more and more parents relying on the digital world to help raise their children, some children can grow up and never truly put any thought into driving until the time comes where they need to drive themselves.
Being educated about driving is unequivocally necessary to maximize the safety of not only new drivers, but experienced drivers and each vehicle’s respective passengers. Learning about the intricacies of driving, including both how one should drive as well as how to handle other drivers’ behaviors should be a top priority even months before a teen gets into the driver’s seat of a vehicle. Driving schools can help tremendously in teaching new drivers, but it’s also important to teach about how everyone around them may drive. After all, if a new driver follows the best practices but has an encounter with another driver who isn’t utilizing the same behaviors, accidents can still occur that may result in the loss of life. Driver education in regards to one’s own good driving habits will of course save lives, but the value in learning about how to react to other vehicles on the road cannot be understated. If new drivers are able to keep their cool around others, even when they aren’t using said habits themselves, accidents, and by extension deaths, can be prevented as a direct result of driver education. This is something that I have been taught by my parents on numerous occasions. My experiences with going to driving school were extremely helpful in making me a better driver, but my parents’ wisdom when it comes to making decisions with other vehicles around have also helped me considerably in avoiding making bad calls.
There are many, many practices and habits that can help reduce the amount of deaths from driving. Of course, seat belts save lives. No matter how good of a driver one is, there are no guarantees on the road. In the case of any emergency, simply having the seat belt on can be the difference between life and death.
Another huge factor that I feel is far less spoken about is the use of indicators. From time to time, both in real life and online, I see people complain about how they had an experience on the road where someone didn’t use their indicators or lights. I believe using your vehicle’s lights and indicators is an absolute must on the road, and I don’t think that simple passing comments or single lessons are enough to teach people about their importance. Many, many accidents and deaths involve multiple vehicles. Knowing what the drivers around you are going to do is imperative to making your own decisions. If someone isn’t using their lights or indicator, there is no way of knowing what they plan on doing. The least egregious scenarios may result in the complaints I stated about earlier. However, at its worst, not using indicators or lights may lead to drivers making moves that can lead to collisions or other accidents wherein multiple vehicles are involved. The opposite is true, as well, where not properly utilizing lights may lead to drivers around the offender to not make the proper decisions to avoid potentially fatal accidents. Turning indicators are the most frequent example I hear about people forgetting. However, not properly showing when you plan on braking is just as dangerous. When I received my driving lessons, I was told multiple times about when and how to indicate braking. Even slightly stepping on the brake to turn on the light before actually starting to brake can prevent potential accidents. The worst offense with this is in “brake checking”, wherein a vehicle is in front of another and suddenly brakes without any indication, usually resulting in one vehicle slamming into the back of another in a rear-end accident. A lack of seat belts from either vehicle, a lack of control of either vehicle afterwards, or simply too much force being applied to either vehicle can result in very swift losses of life.
In fact, the only accident I’ve ever been in was when my parents and I were rear-ended at a red light. The crash itself had a fairly low speed of impact. However, while we were in an SUV, the vehicle behind us was even heavier, and all three of us sustained injuries as a result of the collision. I got off the easiest despite being in the back, with some back pains for a few months afterward. My parents received much more general pains and achiness for longer afterwards. What makes these types of accidents even more dangerous is the fact that the vehicle which was initially rear-ended may move forward, which can result in it rear-ending another in front of it. This force could also push it forward onto another road, which could cause a potentially fatal t-bone accident. Thankfully, the vehicle was braked before the collision happened, which caused the vehicle to stop instantly after the collision. Had it not been braked, our vehicle could have ended up rear-ending another, which would cause further damage to both us and the people in front of us.
The first step to being a better and safer driver is to learn as much as possible even before driving, whether that be important driving behavior, how to react to others, or even how to go through local roads. Before driving, it’s best for one to be as prepared as possible so they’re able to keep calm in any situation thrown their way. The next step is to just practice driving. In my opinion, after learning about driving, the best way to get better at it is to just keep driving as much as possible. There should always be someone next to you that’s always keeping an eye out for you and willing to tell you what to do as well. In my case, both my mother and father have helped fulfill this role for me, and they have helped me a lot in learning about driving. This especially helps with learning the local roads. After practicing driving as a whole, the next step is to learn as many roads as possible. The more confident you are in where you’re going, the less likely you are to hesitate. This is something that I’m trying my hardest to learn about, and my parents have pointed out to me that my decisions are snappier and my turning is smoother on roads that I know. This next step goes hand in hand with the previous one, in my opinion, and that is getting used to your vehicle. Every vehicle drives differently, and learning about how your vehicle drives, as well as your preference for vehicles as a whole can help you know what actions you can and cannot take while driving. Finally, putting yourself in traffic situations can be extremely beneficial. Knowing what actions you should take based on others around you can not only help keep you safe, but it can also help keep everyone around you safe. As stated before, many fatalities on the road occur in accidents involving multiple vehicles. It’s important to learn how to interact with others to be able to keep both yourself and your fellow drivers safe. In my own experience, knowing how to react to people around me helps quell the initial nervousness I had when I started driving.
Making sure others around you know what you’re doing is not only the best way to ensure their safety, but it’s also vital in ensuring your own safety as well. Furthermore, always being attentive of your surroundings and being familiar with as many situations as possible will additionally keep yourself on the road. It’s important to know that there are all kinds of people on the road every day, and while you can’t control the people around you, you are always in control of both your own vehicle as well as what you tell to the people around you.