In America the fatality rate in car crashes is scarily high, however as a former student driver I can share my own experiences and how I think it helped me succeed as a safe driver. Drivers Ed is the most important part of a teenager's driving journey. It helps explain the rules of the road, important laws, and ways to lessen your chances of a car accident by explaining what could be potentially dangerous. Drivers Ed explains potential dangers on the road like animals suddenly running in front of your vehicle, unknown weather conditions, or even other drivers that might not follow the rules of the road. Drivers Ed also teaches young drivers what they shouldn’t do while driving like drinking and driving, speeding, and even just driving when you’re a little too tired. These important and useful bits of information can be what comes between life an death of a new and inexperienced driver.
No matter how much driving students pay attention to Drivers Ed there will still be accidents. I think a way to reduce that would be giving real life examples of many different types of scenarios that could happen while driving. In my personal experience my Drivers Ed only taught me certain scenarios that included, not drinking and driving, not driving while tired, and not texting and driving. These are definitely very important things to know and understand the risks of, however I think real world scenarios like, crazy drivers, confusing construction paths, and just general knowledge rules of the road kids are suspected to know. This could lower the number of accidents that could be avoided by simply knowing more about what to do in these different scenarios.
Personally, my life has been affected by unsafe driving in a very traumatic way. My brother died in a car accident when I was in the sixth grade. I had lost the one person I had grown up with, the one who was supposed to protect me, the one who I was supposed to learn from, and the one I was supposed to be able to go to whenever I needed guidance. Not only did this truly break me as a kid, but it also gave me an unconscious fear of driving. When I was of age to get my learners permit, I waited a long time to get it, because I was absolutely terrified of driving. Now, I've officially been driving over a year and sometimes I still get nervous and stresses out while driving because I don’t feel like I’m prepared for the unknowns that come with driving. To this day, 6 years later, I am still reminded every day how dangerous driving not only affects the driver but also their families. My school is about to have our bi-annual unsafe driving awareness program, now I have to decide whether I want to skip school that day or see all of my friends participate in a program where they pretend to die in a car crash just like my brother did 8 years ago when he was in high school and only now truly understand it’s impact.
There are steps I take to be a good driver and help keep others safe on the road as well. For example, I always go the speed limit, I am always very aware of my surroundings, and I am always very aware I can’t control the drivers around me, so I have to stay in good focus to assess any possible dangerous situations. Doing this keeps me and others safer and lowers the risk of accidents. Another way of being a safe driver would include researching any possible scenarios I feel I might not know how to work through therefore, I would be more prepared for any possible changes in my usual driving routine and know how to correctly handle them. I feel if everyone where to prepare themselves like this the car crash rate would decrease and help protect the drivers who can do everything they need to do to be safe, however there is sometime a “bump in the road” they could much better handle if they were better prepared. As a former student driver, I think deeper explanations of road rules like, roundabouts, construction areas, and even complicated intersections would be very helpful for future student drivers and make the American roads safer. This is very important because no family should have to feel the loss mine did because of unsafe driving practices.