The Importance of Safe Driving
For a very long time the number one cause of death for young Americans has been vehicle accidents with around 2000-3000 young adults passing away each day, even though this is the number one cause of death for American teenagers and young adults does not mean that older adults or the elderly do not pass away from car accidents. In fact, research says that each day 20 or more older adults die from car accidents and 540 are left injured. This is due to poor driving and ignoring safe driving procedures. We must also realize that we ourselves as well as our loved ones could end up dead or injured in a car accident if we do not practice safe driving. Due to this it is important that we understand the importance of driver education, steps that can be taken to reduce accidents and deaths, and what we ourselves can do to be safer drivers and help others be safer drivers.
Drivers Education is a program that teaches individuals about driving laws and provides knowledge to help new drivers practice safety procedures. The program teaches us proper hand placement on the wheel, what to do when turning, always wear our seatbelt, and much more. All these things each contribute to safe driving and greatly reduces the risk of accidents. Without this program many young drivers are more prone to accidents because they did not have a way to learn the basis of safe driving which could result in many more deaths caused by accidents. Research has shown that since the driver’s education program was introduced in 1996 teenage crash deaths has been reduced by 50% in the United States. This just shows that it is important for teenagers and young adults to take some form of driver’s education so that way they have a better understanding of safe driving which can greatly reduce their chances of getting into a car accident.
Despite car accidents being a huge problem and always have been there are ways to help further prevent this issue an reduce deaths by car accidents. Something that can be done that could probably help reduce car accident deaths is if car manufacturers are somehow able to build stronger cars that can take more damage and absorb more of the impact. More advertisement of driver’s education would also be beneficial to spread awareness but only advertise this program, but also advertise the benefits of this program, how it greatly reduces the risk of accidents or death and the cons of not taking this program. Also showcase what are the leading causes of accidents such as drunk driving and speeding and how the program combats these issues. We can also provide a more advanced version of the course that really delves into safe driving procedures and provide more knowledge.
Throughout my life I have been in a vehicle many times and whether I was the passenger or driving and I have been in an accident before. I was fifteen years old and just recently got my learner’s permit. I was practicing driving with my dad, and we wanted to go to Chipotle to eat but while I was trying to park, I hit the person’s car. Luckily, there were no injuries or death. We were luckily able to deal with the situation without much consequence, the guy was very forgiving. Even though this accident was not fatal in any way it still could have been avoided easily. At this point I had not taken a proper driver’s education course, and I feel as if the absence of one contributed to this accident, if I had just paid more attention to my surroundings and the cars around me, that accident would have never happened. When it comes to my family my uncle is a reckless driver, mainly when it is just him driving by himself. He likes to speed and swerve on the highway. I worry sometimes for him because by driving like that he is increasing his chances of getting into an accident that could potentially lead to death, and I would hate to see that happen to my uncle. What I can do is try to warn him of the potential danger that he is putting himself through and encourage the rest of my family to do the same. I could also try to convince him to watch some videos on safe driving procedures and how to execute them. I can also use this story to tell others to encourage them to drive safely. Despite car accidents causing death for many Americans every day, we do have a way to combat this as long as we understand the importance of driver’s education, ways that we can both improve the program and reduce death, and what we ourselves can do to help encourage safe driving.