As safe as one may feel in their car when on the road, their vehicle can metaphorically count as a weapon. According to the National Highway Traffic Administration, car crashes in the US happen every sixty seconds. The importance of Driver’s Ed stems from being able to teach the new generation of drivers how to behave on the road. It is beautiful to see new students with open minds learning about how to drive a car for the first time. To reduce the number of deaths from car crashes, those drivers must be warned of how one little mistake or even slight laziness can swiftly end someone’s life. The main purpose of driver’s school is exactly this. Without Driver’s Ed, the number of casualties from car crashes would vastly increase due to lack of information.
Regardless of how much a new driver has been educated, car crashes still occur at a high rate in the US. As stated earlier, a singular mistake can be fatal. Giving into laziness, such as glancing at your phone while on the road, even when stopped at a traffic light, is an example of such error. Anyone can freely think to themselves, “just this once is okay.” Whether it be running a red light or texting while driving, any of those choices discouraged by Driver’s Education have high possibilities of car crashes. To reduce car crashes, avoiding giving into this laziness is key. If at any point in time the temptation to glance at your cell phone, or becoming impatient in road rage begins to appear, catch yourself. Becoming aware of these thoughts, and choosing more cautious driving over disobeying traffic laws, is crucial in saving the lives of many young drivers and pedestrians.
Although I have never been in a car accident, nor have I witnessed my friends driving recklessly, I had witnessed one crash happen right in front of my eyes. At age twelve, my parents and I were driving home on a cloudy evening. At the end of our block was our local cafe and a glass bus stop. The thought of an emergency did not cross any of our minds during this mundane evening, until a car in front of us gradually began swerving back and forth. All of a sudden the car crashed through that glass bus stop in front of us, before knocking down a garbage bin and the pole of a stop sign. Shards of glass scattered everywhere, coating the sidewalk in a sea foam of green pieces bouncing off our car window. That concrete garbage bin had shielded an elderly couple from being hit by the drunk driver on the sidewalk. My father instantly pulled the car into the cafe’s parking lot, and rushed my mother and I into the cafe for safety. Time ceased to exist at that moment. More drivers sought refuge in the cafe with the same reasons as my family did: out of fear and shock. Adrenaline had rushed into my heart when the driver came stumbling out of his now destroyed car, which happened to be stopped by the dented stop sign. When a policeman interrogated the man, I managed to sneak outside the cafe with my mother, and overheard the officer say to him, “I know. I can smell the vodka in your breath.”
That was the first time I had witnessed a 911 call being made, and it happened because of a car crash. I had the determination to always drive cautiously. “I don’t want to be like him,” was my first thought when I arrived home. What I would do now to prevent myself and others from getting involved in a car accident like that is to keep these stories in mind. Every new driver either has believed or still believes in the idea that “I’m not like them. I’ll be okay no matter what happens.” If you think you are the exception to car crashes, then you might become a statistic for car crashes. Therefore it is crucial to live to this saying: better safe than sorry. Continuing to comply with what I have learned in Driver’s Education, refusing to give into laziness and impatience when on the road, and remembering the time when I witnessed a car crash in person will further prevent me and my fellow drivers from becoming a car crash statistic.