The Impact of Drivers Education

Drivers ed is essential for every teen. Teens, without a doubt, think they can automatically get behind the wheel and start driving. Even though teens may be familiar with driving, Drivers ed helps them learn the laws of driving, develop safe driving skills and develop basic fundamentals to become a licensed driver. Drivers ed teaches safety and provides an opportunity for students to gain confidence while behind the wheel. Students enrolled in Drivers Education class will also learn the consequences that result from poor driving. I believe this is an important part of the education because it is devastating to families, neighbors and communities when there is an accident that resulted from inexperienced drivers thinking that they were in control. My community experienced an accident due to a result of irresponsibility just last year and the results were devasting. The driver was recklessly driving too fast in a hail storm and suddenly lost control of the car. The result of this accident impaired many lives in just a matter of a few minutes. A passenger, whom was only a freshman, was declared to be braindead and lost his life and a sophomore that was sitting in the passenger seat is now paralyzed and is not expected to ever regain functionality on his entire left side of his body. The news was heartbreaking, not only to me, but the community as a whole. Since the accident, I feel like student drivers at my school realized that driving isn’t just fun and games. Responsibility was a factor that everyone realized was essential while driving.

The Department of Motor Vehicles has set driving requirements for those with their driving permit to ensure teens are prepared to drive on their own. They require teens to track hours driving, weather conditions and time of day. The WV DMV requires fifty hours of driving experience with varying time of day hours and varying weather conditions before a teen can get their license. I believe this is a great step to help reduce the number of deaths related to driving. Drivers ed is a great opportunity to gain some of this driving experience while having a professional driver in the vehicle to help guide students when unforeseen circumstances occur and a student needs to react.

Steps that I take to be a better driver include reducing distractions while driving. An example is I set my phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode, absolutely no texting and I do not have a lot of friends in the car. I make sure that there is no “horseplay” among passengers and I control the noise level in the car so I can stay aware of my surroundings. I also do not start driving until everyone is buckled up. With the help of Drivers ed and accidents that teens witness, I believe that teens will begin to realize the importance of being safe while driving.