Driver education definitely reduces the number of deaths as a result of driving. That is like asking, if someone can play a sport if they never show up to practice? The answer is yes, but they won’t be able to do it as well as someone who puts a little bit of time into their skills. For driving, yes people can get behind a wheel and push a pedal. But to learn how to do it safely and efficiently through driver education, this would reduce accidents and deaths on the road by a good amount. The importance of laying a good foundation for how to drive is very important. I believe that the standard should be that all people’s first time actually driving a car on the road should be with some form of driving instructor. This isn’t because all guardians or friends are bad at teaching how to drive, but it is to prevent the ones that are lacking from endangering others on the road. A vehicle is a multiple ton machine that can kill if operated incorrectly. Drive education at the start of everyone's driving careers would also help establish good driving habits and prevent the bad ones from being handed down. If someone’s parents constantly speed, they are most likely going to teach their kid how to speed as well.
A big part of driver education is that it teaches people about the rules of the road. This is a big thing people driving get lazy about after they get their license. On the drivers license test and for drivers education programs, you have to follow every rule of the road exactly. But after these programs people choose to get into the habit of following certain laws more loosely. For example rolling stops at stop signs. The amount of deaths due to not stopping at stop signs are in the thousands. Another example of this laziness after drivers education is flashing yellows. Many people creep out into intersections while a flashing yellow is happening, instead of waiting for it to be clear. I believe that if there were more driver education in the beginning process of learning how to drive and frequently after you get your license, many drivers would be more aware of certain driving laws and know how to drive a bit safer. This education would help reduce accidents which would reduce the numbers of deaths from these accidents.
Knocking on wood, I have never experienced being in a car accident myself but I have seen multiple friends driving irresponsibly. I have seen many things like driving without seatbelts, having more people than the number of seatbelts in a car, and running stop lights. One of the most common irresponsible driving I see amongst people close to me is driving way over the speed limit. At many times I leave locations at the same time as my friends and they always beat me to the destination by ridiculous amounts of time. Also they can treat the highway as like a race to get the fastest time from point A to point B. This driving is completely unsafe and dangerous. It's what can lead to deaths from driving. I believe that at the root cause of where these dangerous behaviors started was when they learned how to drive. The friends that went through driver education programs are much safer drivers and have gotten less accidents than the friends that were taught by just their friends and family. The facts don’t lie about driver education.
As someone who went through two driver education programs, one in school and one out of school, I think this is what helped me be a better and safer driver on the roads. One of the big things I was taught that I believe would help others be safer on the road is to just be patient. If you are not in a rush to get everywhere you drive the speed limit, make calm level headed decisions, and will more likely just drive overall less recklessly. Driver's education is a must in this world because it educates people on the proper way to conduct themselves with motor vehicles. If more people attended and took driver education during their learning phase or after, there would most likely be less accidents on the road which means less deaths due to driving. I hope more people in the future realize this and take driver education to lay a good foundation for their driving skills and road knowledge.