In the Driver's Seat: From Skoura Roads to Safe Future

When I was growing up in Benguerir, a small town near Marrakech, the road was never just asphalt. It was where life happened. You would see donkey carts, old Mercedes taxis packed with eight people, kids on bicycles, trucks carrying phosphate, and students like me walking to school, all sharing the same narrow, cracked road. I learned very early that being in the driver's seat was not about power or freedom. It was about holding the lives of everyone around you in your hands. This understanding is the foundation of driver education.

What is the importance of driver education? Driver education is often seen as a simple procedure to get a license, to learn the signs and pass a test. But in reality, it is education about life and death. In many places in Morocco, people do not go to a formal driving school. They learn from a father, an uncle, or a friend. They learn how to start the car, how to change gears, but they do not learn the most important things: the importance of a seatbelt even for a two-minute drive, the danger of a blind spot, how long it really takes for a car to stop when you are going 80 kilometers per hour, or how one second of looking at a phone can kill a family. Your website states that over 34,000 people die every year in America from car crashes, more than all the American soldiers who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. That number shocked me. In Morocco, the World Health Organization says we lose more than 3,500 people every year, but every Moroccan knows the real number is higher because many accidents in rural areas are never counted. Formal driver education teaches the WHY behind the rules, not just the rules themselves. It changes your mindset. It makes you understand that the road is a shared community, not your personal racetrack. Without that education, you are not a driver, you are a risk to everyone.

What steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths? I think we need a three-part plan that combines human discipline, technology, and culture. First, we need much stricter and more realistic education for young drivers. A young driver should not just answer multiple-choice questions. They should be required to take a defensive driving course where they experience in a safe simulator what happens when you brake on a wet road, or when a child runs into the street. Education must happen BEFORE the license, not as a punishment after an accident. Second, we must embrace technology enforcement. As a future Computer Science student applying to study in the US, I am passionate about this. The technology to save lives already exists. Every smartphone can detect when you are driving over 15 km/h and automatically switch to "Do Not Disturb While Driving" mode. We can build cheap, small sensors that beep loudly when you get too close to the car in front of you. We can use AI to analyze the most dangerous curves on roads like the N8 between Benguerir and Marrakech and put up smart warning signs. In Morocco, most cars are old and do not have these systems, but everyone has a smartphone. We can build the safety into the phone, not just the car. Third, we need community accountability. In my town, everyone knows everyone. If someone drives drunk at a wedding, the whole town talks about it the next day. We need to turn that social pressure into something positive. We need to create a culture where it is normal and brave for a friend to say, "Give me your keys, you are too tired to drive." Where parents praise their kids for wearing a seatbelt in the back seat. Where being a safe driver is seen as cool and responsible, not as boring. If we combine better schools, smart technology, and a strong culture of responsibility, we can cut those 34,000 deaths in half.

Have you ever had an experience of being in an accident or near accident? Yes, and it is a moment I will never forget. Last year, my cousin was driving me and my little brother from Benguerir to Marrakech on the N8 road at night to visit our family. It was about 11 PM. He had been working all day in a shop and was very tired. His phone kept buzzing because his boss was sending messages about work for the next day. I told him to stop and check the messages, but he said, "It's just two seconds, I can read it while driving." At that exact moment, he looked down at his phone. For maybe three seconds, his eyes were not on the road. In those three seconds, our car drifted slowly into the other lane. A large truck carrying vegetables was coming from the opposite direction, honking loudly. My cousin looked up, panicked, and swerved back hard to our lane. We did not crash. Nothing physically happened. No one was hurt. But my little brother started crying, my cousin's hands were shaking so much he had to stop the car, and my own heart was beating so fast I thought it would come out of my chest for a whole hour. We sat on the side of the dark road in silence. That night I understood the most important lesson about driving: an accident does not need alcohol. It does not need high speed. It does not need a bad car. It only needs two seconds of distraction. Two seconds of thinking you are a good enough driver to multitask. That near-accident changed how I see every driver on the road. I now understand that every person in every car is fighting their own distraction.

What steps can you take to be a better and safer driver? Because of that night on the N8 road, I have made four serious personal promises to myself that I will keep for the rest of my life. First, I will never touch my phone while driving. Ever. I will put it in the glovebox or in the back seat on silent. This is a lesson from my athletics training. In the 800-meter race, if you look at the runner next to you for one second, you lose your rhythm and you lose the race. My coach always says, "Focus on your own lane." Driving is the same. You must focus on your lane only. Second, I will always wear a seatbelt and I will make sure every single person in my car wears one too, even if we are just going two minutes to the store in Benguerir. No exceptions. Third, I will be the friend who speaks up, even when it is awkward. If I see my friends or my family driving fast, checking their phone, or driving after they are too tired, I will tell them to stop. I would rather have a friend be angry at me for five minutes than visit him in a hospital. Fourth, as a Computer Science student, I will use my education to help solve this problem beyond just myself. My dream is to build a simple, free mobile application in three languages - Arabic, French, and English - that teaches driver safety to young Moroccans not with boring rules, but with real stories, videos of real near-accidents like mine, and quizzes that show how dangerous two seconds of distraction really is. I want to use code to save lives.

Being in the driver's seat is the most serious responsibility a young person can have. It means you are responsible for everyone who loves you waiting at home, and you are also responsible for every stranger and their family who loves them on the road next to you. I want to be part of the generation, from Benguerir to the United States, that finally understands this and makes our roads safer for everyone.