Every
time you get behind the wheel of a car, there is an imminent danger.
This danger is increased tenfold when coupled with reckless of
uneducated drivers.


When
riding in a car, we like to believe that other people on the road
have enough common sense to get them from point A to point B, but
this normally isn’t the case. When you stop at a red light, you can
immediately see on your left or right side another driver reaching
for their phones. They think that they have enough time to answer a
phone call, or reply to a quick text message. This is how accidents
start.


It
doesn’t even have to be you. You can be a conscious, safe driver,
and yet it can be your car in an accident. Lack of drivers ed
doesn’t only affect the driver, but anyone else involved. A student
who attended my high school graduated two years before me, and was
the basketball star of our school. He had taken our school all the
way to the conference championships for the first time in years. He
was revered by the students and all of the teachers adored him. Just
a few months ago, he got behind the wheel of his car, and got into an
altercation with another driver. The two ended up following each
other on the parkway, which ultimately ended with the other drivers
car wrapping around a tree. He died on impact. This man had a two
year old daughter at home waiting for him. Now our conference
champion was faced with a potential 45 years for manslaughter. He was
only 23 years old.

These
accidents happen every single day, and when we step behind the wheel,
even more prevalent in younger drivers, we believe that we are
invincible. This is why increasing drivers ed is so critical.
It’s imperative to decrease the risk of accidents while driving as
much as possible, and that starts with education.


Just
because it’s common sense, doesn’t mean that it’s common
knowledge. By educating drivers on why certain behaviors pose such a
risk, we can decrease the accidents caused by reckless driving. The
easiest of which is to put on a seatbelt, no matter if you are the
driver or in the backseat. We may not believe it now, but in the
event of an accident, seatbelts truly do save lives. Make sure that
you don’t have distractions while driving. If you are prone to
checking your phone in the car, leave it in the backseat. Never get
behind the wheel if you’ve consumed alcohol or drugs, and instead
take a cab or Uber home. Even teaching as simple as when to make a
U-turn or when to indicate make all the difference in protecting our
drivers. While technology has changed to make it safer for us as
well, we have to do our part to keep everyone safe.