Driving Safely

Something that I have always found to be important about driving is how safe and reliable the driver is, the importance of drivers’ education, and finally, breaking the chain of irresponsible driving. This scholarship is important to me because being a safe and responsible driver is important to me.

Drivers education is so important to new drivers that way they can know the rules of the road so they can drive safely and carefully to make sure that their safety, and that of the drivers on the road around them, to still be intact. Important driving habits can become instilled in your head during drivers ed. One of the biggest lessons I learned during drivers ed class is when you are under the influence of alcohol, just how impaired your vision and reaction time becomes. In the class, we all had a turn to put on “drunk goggles” and try to catch a ball and then throw it into a trash can. Although it was humorous to watch, we all learned a lesson about driving while you are in an impaired state. There was hardly anyone in the class who was able to catch the ball, let alone make the ball into the trash can. Some kids even fell over! We were able to agree that driving in this state is very scary, and that the overall experience is not one we would ever want to repeat while operating a vehicle. Driving under the influence is a huge problem almost anywhere you look. Underaged teenagers trying to make it home for a curfew, adults thinking they are ‘fine’ to drive home, and those who feel nothing but their blood alcohol content is soaring above ‘fine’. Learning about the effects alcohol has on the persons reaction time, and vision, the consequences if given an OUI, and the terrible effects if an accident results in fatalities.

There are unfortunately so many fatalities due to driving accidents. Some thing that we can work on as a nation to protect our drivers is trying not to speed, not drinking under the influence of anything, not texting while driving, and trying to limit the distractions present while driving. People today are in such a rush to get to their destination, so much so they often do not think of the terrible effects of speeding to get to the destination sooner. Knowing you will want to be somewhere right on time, everyone should leave with enough time to get to their destination with wiggle room. Driving under the influence of anything is never good. To solve this, people who plan to drink should have a designated driver to be able to drive whoever has been drinking home safely. If this is not an option, there should be at least one contact in everyone’s phone that is someone who would be able to give the consumer of alcohol a ride to where they need to be. Limiting distractions, I think is a big one, phones, radios, and other passengers can be very distracting. Due to all these distractions, it becomes very easy for the driver to lose focus on the road and instead focus on texting someone back, or instead changing the radio station.

There have been plenty of times where I have been in a situation where the person who was driving me was driving irresponsibly. For instance, I have been in the vehicle when a friend of mine has decided that texting her boyfriend back while driving was the smart thing to do at that time. I reminded the friend of mine that she had not only her own life in her hands, but also mine, and the other drivers on the road too.

For me personally to become a safer driver, I have been working on slowing down. I usually drive about five miles over the speed limit; however, I know this is not the right thing for me to be doing. Every day I have been working on my speeding habits by paying closer attention to my speedometer.