Importance of Being Alert and Aware

When I decided I wanted to get my drivers license, I was surprised by all of the work that was required including passing the permit test, taking drivers education, completing in-cars, and then having to wait 6 months after getting your permit to take the final driving test. At the time, I was annoyed because I was just in a rush to start driving, I wanted my license right then and I didn’t want to have to wait or do a lot of work to get it. I thought to myself, how hard can this be? And although with practice it might not feel like driving is a hard thing to do, there’s so much more to learn about the roads: all the rules and drivers around you that aren’t just about difficulty but more about awareness. 

Because most teenagers feel the same way I did when I was in the process of receiving my driver’s license, many of them just skip through the online drivers education courses without really paying attention to what it’s teaching. However, those kids are missing valuable information that not only teaches you how to drive but also how to be aware of other drivers and why every rule is very important to follow. I believe that if every kid were to really learn all of the information that is intended for them to learn through drivers education, the number of deaths due to driving would significantly decrease. 

My school personally did not provide drivers education and I chose to take it online through an app called Aceable. And although Aceable was very helpful, It was very easy to multitask and not give your full attention to it, allowing a lot of information to be overlooked or missed entirely. So because of this, I believe all schools should require students to take a drivers education class in school during 10th grade when most students will become old enough to get their license. This way, students will be a lot more educated on driving and will therefore be less likely to get into car crashes, reducing the number of deaths on the road.

When I was a freshman in high school, I was riding in the backseat with my friend. Her older sister’s friend was driving us to get food during our lunch break and since we took too long in the restaurant, we were rushing to get back to school. The driver’s father was texting her nonstop about something and because she was stressing out about it, she was trying to text him back while trying to quickly drive us back to school. This is why she didn’t notice when the line of cars in front of her were all coming to a stop behind the red light. Even as we continued to get closer to the stopped car, she still didn’t notice what was going on and the pressure on the gas pedal wasn’t reducing at all. Suddenly, when my friend’s sister, who was in the passenger seat, realized that the driver was not intending to stop, she screamed her name which finally got her to fully look up and slam on the breaks, however, it was much too late and we could not slow down enough or stop in time before we slammed into the car in front of us. When the police came and asked us whether or not any of us were wearing our seatbelts, I was shocked to realize that none of us were and I began to feel grateful for how lucky we were that none of us got hurt. Thinking back to this incident, I wonder what would’ve happened if the passenger wasn’t paying attention either and never called out the driver’s name. The crash might've been a lot worse and without our seatbelts, we could’ve gotten very injured or even killed. 

To be a better driver personally, I will make sure that all passengers that I’m driving have their seatbelts on before I even put my foot on the gas. I will also put my phone somewhere that I cannot reach while driving so that I’m not even tempted to pick it up while on the road. I will make sure to leave early to every event or engagement I have in order to prevent a need to speed while driving. To help others be safe on the road, I will encourage younger people in the process of getting their license to take driver’s education in person rather than online because they are more likely to thoroughly learn the material without being able to skip information.

Overall, throughout my years of being driven and driving myself, I have learned how important drivers education really is and making it known to all drivers across America is more significant than most people realize.