Everyone dreams about getting their driver's license and getting to test drive their first car. Driving is a new and exciting chapter in a teenagers life, but it is important to understand everything that comes with it. Driver education is important in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving because it teaches drivers about road safety, rules and regulations, and risk awareness. The goal of driver education is to ensure that individuals are aware of safe driving practices like traffic lights, yielding, road signs, etc. Not only does driver education provide safety on the road, it also provides self confidence. The more people know about safe driving the better they become at the skill.
There are plenty of steps that should be taken in order to reduce the number of deaths related to driving but I will just list the three that stand out to me.The first step that should be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is completing driving education programs to understand defensive driving risk awareness and responsibilities on the road. The next step that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is regular vehicle maintenance. Road safety begins in the car because individuals need to ensure that they have a safe vehicle prior to entering the road with other drivers. Vehicle inspections are crucial and cars that go through failed inspections should not be allowed on the road until after they pass. Driving with a failed car increases disasters for others on the road as well as the driver themself. It's important to make sure that brakes, seatbelts, horns, blinker lights, mirrors, oil, engines, seat adjusters, and more are all functioning before beginning to drive. This is why every road test begins with a vehicle inspection before proceeding with the test to ensure everyone in the vehicle as well as everyone else is safe. The final step should be strict consequences for people who disobey the laws of the road. Things like distractions while driving, driving without a license, and intoxication while driving are unacceptable. If we enforce more strict laws the number of times people get pulled over because of those things are more likely to decrease.
An incident that was terrifying for our family was when we heard a loud crash outside of our home. We live next to a glass factory so we did not think much of it at first but we still went to check quickly and that's when we discovered our older cousin. His car was embedded into this huge electric service pole. Thankfully he had minor injuries but his car was completely ruined. It seemed like he was driving his vehicle while impaired and also distracted by his pet. It was a blessing that he came out of his car alive and that this happened near our home in order to get him help immediately. However, we gave him the rundown about this being one of the examples of why driver education is important to prevent incidents like this. What if it was not a pole and what if it was another car? Or what if he hit the pole the wrong way and it cost him his life? These questions were spiraling throughout all of our minds but in the end we were just ecstatic to have our cousin still standing in front of us alive and well. He received his appropriate consequences and knows not to ever drive impaired again.
The steps that I can take to be a better and safer driver as well as help others become safer on the road is to pull over whenever I need to do something. Whenever I am in the rush to get somewhere I tend to try to multitask which is not safe at all. However I continue to do it because thankfully nothing has happened to me yet. This is not the right mindset to use because this is me saying that I will only stop when something does happen and that is not right. Instead of talking to someone during a phone call I will pullover instead. I will also not drive if I am eating, sleepy, or distracted. It is completely irresponsible and unfair to the other drivers around me. It is a blessing to be able to drive however it is important to stay safe. Like stated in all driving manuals, “Driving is a privilege, not a right.”