Driving is a serious thing. Driving a car is very important. It’s not a toy. You could potentially end up hurting or killing someone or yourself or someone else could hurt or kill you. You have to learn how to be a defensive driver. Your reflexes have got to be quick.
To at least try to reduce the number of deaths, there are very important things you need to learn in Driver’s Education class. For example, understand traffic laws, like streetlights, certain signs and what they mean, learning how to use defensive driving, how to operate your vehicle properly, how to fix your car if there’s any problems happening with it, understanding driving under the influence, distracted driving, pedestrians rights, speed limits, how to handle car accidents, and much more.
To reduce the number of deaths related to driving, there are certain steps people can do to help. Like adding more crosswalks, improving streetlights at intersections, adding more stop signs, track how much your driving at night, try not to have a lot of people in your car, ALWAYS wear your seatbelt, NEVER drink and drive, as well as not texting and driving, and much more. If you’re a new driver, practice driving in empty parking lots and big spaces. And also learn how to drive in different kinds of weather, including heavy rain, hail, snow, ice, fog, high waters, etc.
In my own life, I have experienced a few accidents, but only two of them were my fault. When I was a newborn, my mother informed me that she had been in a couple car accidents while I was in my baby seat. When I was in the 6th grade, we were into another accident on the way to school. When a deer rolled into the street in front of us while my mom was driving, she struck it. It basically committed suicide in front of us and that’s when my mom hit it. By rolling I mean, it was rolling like hay balls in the country. On my 16th birthday, I had another accident. When my party ended, I was driving the car at night with my mother. My street is narrow and one way. I was reversing and then moving up a little bit so I could park outside our house when I ran into my neighbor's car's front end on the corner. My mother switched places so she could park outside our house. I was obviously crying a lot. She knocked on his door to tell him what happened, but he said it was okay because the headlight I had was already damaged so he didn’t press charges or anything like that. And then the most recent accident was my fault. I recently got a new car for college with my mother, and it’s been at least about a month. And we were heading back home. Prior to the streetlight, my mom's car was in front, followed by a woman, and myself, behind the woman. I drove by myself. The streetlight was red, but the woman had shifted slightly up a bit, so I moved as well. When I stopped, it hit the back of her car, and when I placed it in park, it jerked and hit it once again. She got out and so did I crying and apologizing so many times and she was angry at first which I understand. My mom was unaware of the situation. It turns out that my mom's car was slightly hit by the woman's car when I hit her, but it wasn’t damaged.. Eventually, the woman and I both told my mom what happened after she got out of her car. Obviously my mom was mad. After we called the police and everything, the woman forgave me and hugged me when she realized how much I was crying. Fortunately, I wasn't facing any charges. These were all very traumatic.
The following steps will help me drive more safely and will also make other people safer on the road: To avoid hurting myself or anyone else, I try not to be distracted when driving, give the right to pedestrians when they have the right to walk, obey traffic laws, use signals, never use my phone while driving, and gently honk at people who aren't moving when they should, like at a green light.
In conclusion, everyone should take all these steps and understand them in order to keep themselves safe as well as everyone else.