The Drivers ed; Reshaping the

Zehra Raza

The
Drivers ed

The Annual Global Road Crash
statistics suggests that nearly 1.35 million people die every year in
road accidents and in the US approximately 38,000 people die each
year in car crashes. The road accidents are foreseeable and can be
avoided with the help of proper legislation and strict
implementations of traffic laws. But one of the factors that can be
critical in reducing the number of deaths due to careless driving is
through educating the drivers beyond the standard tests of driving.
By generating more responsible drivers on the roads, the number of
accidents would gradually be reduced that would translate in lesser
number of deaths.
With
increasing population and traffic on the road, it is important for
the policy makers to introduce a policy of refresher course for the
drivers. Passing one time theoretical driving test is not enough
anymore. This should be done after a certain period depending upon
the number of tickets a person has received. The traffic rules needs
to be stricter, people must fear even the mere thought of breaking a
rule. The fines need to be increased for violation of rules that are
critical in causing accidents.
In
2011, my sister and brother in law had a car accident and the
injuries received by my sister were fatal. She was on the bed for
more than a month. She wasn’t wearing seatbelt at the time of the
accident. Had she been putting on the seatbelt, her injuries could
have easily been minimized. Luckily, the injuries were all healed up
with time but the trauma is still very much fresh in my mind. It
still gives me shivers when I recall the event.

The
first step towards a safe driving is respecting the speed limits.
Over speeding is one of the major causes of the accidents. A car
within the speed limits is always less likely to meet an accident
than vice versa. Secondly, it is really important to follow all the
rules no matter how less of an impact that have on the road. Lastly
and most importantly, there is a need to have a change in the
attitudes of drivers. One should not simply obey the rules out of a
fear to get a ticket but to be safe on road for them and for others.
One should feel responsible that their actions are directly impacting
the lives of other individuals on road and a small mistake can result
in life threating situations to other people.