the hard way of learning how to drive safe

Camryn Hilliard

Hilliard 1

As a teenager in 2019, one of the most important things in my life is being able to drive. I pay attention to the road, follow the rules, and make sure that I am the best driver I can be. But, not everyone takes those same measures. I learned that the hard way over the summer when a driver on oncoming traffic drifted into my side of the narrow road, forcing me to crash into a tree with my friend on that side. This caused my car to be totaled and forced my mom to buy me a new car.

Drivers education is important because it can prevent accidents like this and ones even worse. My accident was thankfully injury free, but it could’ve been a lot worse if I had hit the tree head on or at a faster speed, or If I had hit the van instead. Drivers ed can reduce the amount of vehicle related deaths because it spreads the awareness of the severity of car accidents. It lets the learners know that not every car accident will be some fender bender but could result in the death of multiple lives over something that most of the time can be easily avoided if the driver at fault was educated on the rules of the road.

But education can only prove useful if it is readily available to those who are being educated to follow it. There are extra precautions that can be followed to ensure the safety of our roads, such as; having affordable drivers Ed for new drivers, giving presentations to high school students about the dangers of reckless driving and how to prevent it, making it a requirement for local bars to not let heavily intoxicated people drive themselves (by ordering ubers or taxis for them), and many more ways.

I myself am aware that I am not the best driver, I’ve only had my license for about a year. I am still a new driver and I’m still learning all of the written and unwritten rules of the road. Ways of which I’ve learned how to become a better driver what is there not only experience but taking advice and learning from people who have been driving for much longer than I have. For example my mom has had her license for a number of more years than I have and she is constantly giving me advice on things and I may not have learned in drivers Ed.

There are a number of things that we can all learn about in order to be safe drivers. As long as the resources are available and are advertise properly everyone will eventually will eventually learn how to be the best driver for not only themselves but everyone else on the road.