I
have had my driver’s license for approximately two years now. I
cannot stress enough how important drivers ed classes were
to me – seeing the video at the end of my classes, showing us a
devastating accident caused by drunken driving will forever stay
fresh on my mind. We learnt that even if you feel “fine”, your
vision, your response time, everything is affected when under the
influence of drugs/alcohol. My parent and I were required to do
exercises using the “drunk” glasses – this was an eye opener
for sure! Just trying to catch a ball or walk in a straight line was
extremely difficult, let alone driving a motor vehicle in such a
condition! Also, seeing a demolished car that has been in a real
live accident hits home that driving under the influence, or texting
while driving, can be devastating in just a second. I believe that
education for driver’s should continue throughout a person’s
driving “career”, not just when learning to drive. I see many
adults texting and driving or driving pre-occupied and a reminder of
“what could happen” may be the best deterrent to stop these
behavior. I believe that if every driver had a “refresher” of
some kind , there would be a reduction in the number of deaths
related to driving.

When I was 10 years old, my
sister and I were involved in a vehicle accident, in which our
grandmother was driving. This was due to snowy road conditions.
This was a very scary experience and thankfully we were all okay. To
think that driver’s knowingly participate in behaviors that
contribute to vehicle accidents just doesn’t make sense to me! My
parents, grandparents, and all of peers have always worn their
seatbelts, and made sure that I was buckled in and this is a habit
that I have every single time I get behind the wheel. Again, I see
so many adults and young people driving with no seatbelts on and this
is Maine Law! Educating drivers is the most important thing to help
reduce the number of deaths as a result of driving.