For much of my childhood, I treated driving as a skill synonymous with adulthood. Even though my dad didn’t drive, I believed that it was natural for all adults to know how to drive. After all, he still had his driver’s license. Now that I am 18, I have obtained a driver’s license and have a fair amount of driving experience. Although time behind the wheel is most important, the preliminary preparation and course education that I completed was extremely important in helping me build the habits and skill to drive safely. However, I don’t believe driver education is solely categorized as the course that many take before their permit test. I have been receiving driver education since I can remember being in a car. As a toddler, I had my own steering wheel toy in the backseat as I would try to imitate my mom. I would pay attention to the lights, the road, and the changing lane designations. I slowly began to understand these rules of the road through repetition. I was a surprisingly attentive passenger, even more so when I became old enough to sit in the front seat. Understanding the flows of traffic as well as knowing the geography and layout has helped me a lot since I started driving.
During the process of obtaining my driver’s permit, I began to understand the impact and severity of learning and being allowed to drive. I know people that didn’t pass their permit test on the first try. I know people that were driving before taking their permit test. These actions come from attitudes of entitlement; and expectation that everyone gets to drive. However, I did not share this feeling during my driver’s education course. Driver education revealed the real risks and dangers of driving a vehicle. Rather than interpret these as scare tactics, I replayed the messages in my head before I would begin driving to keep me grounded and focused. Driving can be fun sometimes, especially for people that have an interest in cars like me. However, you cannot get carried away with fantasies of car chases or high speed stunts. That should go without saying, but there have been accidents and fatalities because of these kinds of attitudes. Individuals and the people around them should treat cars with respect and attention because they are dangerous.
One of the more dangerous driving patterns I have observed is the rat race that occurs during periods of heavy traffic. I have driven down to Los Angeles twice this summer for UC Irvine events. LA traffic is spectacularly mind blowing sometimes and I didn’t even see the worst of it. However, driving attitudes and strategies make the already busy freeways move slower. Everyone tries to cut in front of each other which has incentivized tailgating. I found myself following cars much too closely because I wanted to prevent other cars from getting in front of me. These patterns are contagious and it is hard not to fall in line with the rest of the cars on the road. Although I believe that driver education should be more rigorous, I also think that vehicle infrastructure could play a significant role in preventing car-related deaths. Roadways should be constructed using driver psychology to ensure safety rather than road signs. A large tree blocking a driver’s view of the intersection will be more effective at managing their speed than a speed limit sign. Alternative, and better, transportation options would reduce the number of cars on the road.
As a driver gets more and more hours behind the wheel, they get more comfortable and focus less because they have performed the same actions countless times. However, this lack of attention can lead to delayed response times. Alternative transportation methods would reduce the monotony and repetitive experiences of many drivers. This is one of the reasons why I was in a car crash. On the way to school, a car rear ended us because the driver was attending to her children in the backseat. She had a confidence and relaxed enough mindset to completely remove her field of vision from the front of the car. Our car was totaled because of it. When I drive, I try to have a passenger handle all the non-road elements such as music, directions, or air conditioning. I want to be able to completely focus on the environment around me. So far, it has kept me from getting into any accidents. Recently, I have also tried driving at a more relaxed pace, keeping more distance between cars around me and not trying to beat yellow lights. I have found myself taking this relaxed approach and still keeping up with cars that dangerously dart around and drive in a hurried rush. I also try to avoid driving at rush hour when possible because of the increased level of danger. Many of these strategies are difficult to employ in such a car-centric society. However, I believe that conscious drivers and creating a culture of conscious driving can help reduce the number of deaths related to driving.