Driving Is More Than Education

Driving is an extremely important responsibility. Fewer responsibilities in life demand so much and carry such a heavy burden as driving. In order to be fully equipped to handle this responsibility, people must be properly and adequately educated. Unfortunately, when people are underprepared for this task, serious injury, material damage, or even death often ensues. So the question remains: How can education be utilized to make the roads a safer place for everyone?

Drivers education allows students to learn the rules and regulations for safely operating a motor vehicle. Ultimately, this goes beyond simply learning facts, figures and lists of rules. One of the most valuable aspects of a quality program is getting a trial run behind the wheel with an instructor who is a professional, expert driver. This experience allows teens to understand the mechanics of a car and to determine their comfortability with driving in a variety of situations. Without this necessary education for students determined to be able to drive, imagine how prevalent motor vehicular deaths would be in America. For some people, drivers ed is the only source of training they receive to operate a vehicle that has the power to cause devastation and destruction with improper use. Drivers education gives people a chance to learn the correct ways to operate a motor vehicle and how to respond to other drivers. These skills are ones that they carry with them as they go out onto potentially dangerous roadways. Think about how many people die each year due to vehicular-related accidents. Educating drivers properly can significantly decrease the number of these deaths.

However, drivers ed alone does not eliminate the problem. Although most accidents happen within a person’s first year of driving, more than half of the driving population die from these accidents between the ages of 15 to 44 (https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/). If the government can only affect a small portion of the driving population in their education and reminders of proper and safe techniques of operating a vehicle, then something more needs to be done beyond one-time education. In an effort to prevent deaths each year, drivers need to be reminded constantly of their responsibility. Often, people, especially as they age, begin to become comfortable in the driver’s seat and more lax about the driving rules and regulations. This causes people to tend to look at their phones, go over the speed limit, or break other traffic laws that are put in place to keep people safe simply because they “feel like they can handle it.” Unfortunately, this causes people to die unnecessarily because of any number of unsafe and unlawful decisions that are made by people who become “too comfortable” behind the wheel. To reduce the number of deaths that take place in America due to traffic-related accidents, it needs to be realized that roadway crashes are often both predictable and preventable. If the government takes responsibility to raise awareness, legislate, and enforce laws pertaining to speed limits, drug impairment, seat-belt usage, and child restraints (https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/) then it would be a positive step toward ensuring that people do not die due to vehicular crashes. Furthermore, I believe that continuing education and requiring road tests to be taken periodically throughout a driver’s life would make people more responsible for their driving habits. To encourage safer driving practices, it is the job of everyone to take responsibility for their actions as it is a shared goal to make roadways a safer place.

Personally, I have been in a car accident. As statistically indicated, this happened within my first year of driving. I learned firsthand what happens when you rush while driving. Consequently, I was not as attentive as I needed to be. Luckily, I was not harmed. The people that I collided with were not so fortunate. They had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. It was unnerving to think that my lack of attention for a split second, not looking to my right a second time, caused this accident. As I sat in my car where it landed across the road sitting next to a stop sign, I remember calling my parents, speaking to the EMT personnel who came to check on me and waiting for my dad to come. This time seemed endless because I could not see anything that was happening around me. The truck that had hit me seemed to appear out of nowhere. I did not even see it before I was spun around and facing the opposite direction. I knew the people in the truck were alive, but I had overheard that one of them needed to be taken to the hospital. I have always been very responsible and often have been told that I am wise beyond my years. However, I had become too comfortable behind the wheel. I had fallen victim to what many teenager drivers believe prior to an accident: it will never happen to me! Well, it did! It was not because I did not have the proper training or sufficient education. I was involved in an avoidable accident because I was rushing to get to my destination quickly. I neglected all my education and training in that split second. I learned a very valuable lesson that day: Education is more than just acquiring the knowledge needed to be successful. In order to ultimately be successful, I have to remember and utilize all the skills and information from my training every time I get in my car. Driving is a responsibility that I cannot take lightly. To be a better and safer driver, it is essential that we, both as an individual and a collective, identify and understand what causes unsafe driving and how to rectify the problem. By actively practicing safe driving techniques each time I enter a vehicle, and encouraging others to do the same, I can make an impact to make the roads a safer place.