I watched as the cliff of a mountain skirted into view. The car squealed as it tried to make friction against the unpaved road. There was a loud crunch as my hood indented, my tire flipping sideways with the pressure of the impact. I continued my slide to the cliff side, only stopping as I would learn later about five solid inches from sliding over on impact. That was how a cold rainy morning on October 10th of 2020 started. My husband pried me out of my car that morning, my door had dented in. The kid that hit me was driving too fast and hydroplaned. Leaving my car five inches from a cliff.
I would also discover that after he hit my car, his tie-rod would break and he would then ricochet off me into my husband's truck who was traveling behind me. Do you know that Drivers ed is offered at multiple schools yet it is an elective. Or that when you go to take your drivers test they give you a paper you have to fill out with how many hours you’ve driven, yet i’ve heard plenty of stories of fibbed hours written down. Could my situation and others have been avoided if we simply offered better drivers education?


Drivers Education:
Drivers education is an easy class that consists of learning traffic laws, safe driving practices, how cars function on a basic level, and practice driving courses. If you take it before you have a license your instructor will take the time to prepare you for your driver's examination, a test that you have to pass to prove your knowledge of road signs and laws. Your instructor will also take you on test drives that help prepare you for driving on your own. In my case, I did not have driver’s education until my senior year after I already had my drivers license. I also only took the class to get a lower insurance rate. I know not the best reason, but it was an incentive. I only drove once during the class, everything else I pretty much bypassed because I already had a license.
Receiving my license was a whirlwind, I practiced for my test only to pass by the skin of my teeth not only on the written part, but also the driving part. In all honesty looking back I was not prepared to have my license. I was quickly pushed through even with having low marks. I’m not the only one with this story. I and many other people I know have had close calls with things that we should have been prepared for, like knowing how to drive on wet roads or snow. A lot of drivers' learn from figuring it out on their own, which often leads to more accidents. Which could be a contributing factor to teen driver related deaths.

Solutions:
To begin finding a solution we must first find the root of the problem. I believe it starts with our school education. Driver’s Ed should be mandatory before you get your license, students need to know the basics of car mechanics for upkeep. Your car functioning correctly is just as important as driving correctly. How to change a tire, check your oil and fluids should be accessible knowledge for everyone at a young age. How all roads work, what signs mean, how to handle construction zones, and what to do if you get pulled over should be practiced. Driving in all weather conditions should be practiced and thoroughly discussed, this often gets overlooked. What happens if you have an accident, how to respond.
I feel like we should also not sugar coat how accidents can affect not only yourself but others. How you drive also affects other people, which is why it's important to not drive under the effects of alcohol, or on your phone. I believe the next step is to get the word out, Videos, Links, tweets it all starts with the community. The more we do not shy away from the subject the more people will know how to respond. I also think our next step should be to have a more strict curriculum for getting a license. Making sure our drivers are properly prepared for the driving world during every season.

What steps can we take to help lower driver deaths:
I believe we can lower driving related deaths by first starting small, advocating for our future drivers. By relaying the proper information and providing the proper tools we can take our first steps to lowering the numbers. Start with the internet and get the message out that this is how your car functions, how to change a tire, how to change fluids, how to drive in snow and ice. We are living in a very tech driven generation. They are watching, they are learning everyday. Once this catches on we can then take the proper steps to make drivers education more sought after as the norm, not the elective. Then we can all be a Ginger rallying for proper drivers education.