Many drivers I’ve seen have forgotten the very basics of drivers ed and even get frustrated at safe drivers. Many individuals believe that it is okay to drive ‘a bit’ over the speed limit and that they are not ‘that close’ to the driver in front of them. The results: accidents due to being unable to react fast enough to sudden changes. I’ve driven for only a few months with a permit and many times I have already encountered ill tempered drivers who drive too close and honk at me for simply following the speed limit. These individuals need to be re-educated in order to ensure accidents due to poor reaction time can be avoided.
The one main step to reduce the number of driving related deaths is to keep drunk drivers off the street. Taxis or friends were the main methods to avoid this, but now uber has widened the range of available drivers. I hope to focus on drunk drivers because these individuals are an ‘accident’ themselves. It is already hard to stop a thousand pound moving metal, but to do so with impaired vision, thought processing, and reaction speed is guaranteed to have someone die.
The one aspect of my family’s driving that irritates me to no end is their lack of signaling when changing lanes. The closest I’ve been to an accident is when someone in the lane next to me wanted to switch to my lane without signaling. The event made me almost squeal from fright, so seeing my parents do the same brings me endless frustration. Every time they do so, I try to lecture them on how bad the habit of forgetting to signal is, but as their child it only seems rude and undisciplined. I hope drivers ed can better emphasize this seemingly small detail to make similar events less frequent.
To make myself a safe driver, I plan to be strict on myself to follow the driving rules taught in the driving handbook. To be a better driver, I will try to practice driving as much as I can before taking the driver’s test. Finally to ensure the people around me become safer drivers, I’ll try to be strict on them to follow the rules.