On a late night, driving back home from a get together, my aunt is behind the wheel of her car. It was around 2 or 3 am and she was getting back from a family party. She thought even though it was late she could make it back home. Tragically, she fell asleep at the wheel of her car and collided with a tree on the side of the road. She was found at the scene and had already passed away. I was around 2 or 3 at the time of her wreck. I don’t have much memory of her but my family tells me she loved me to death and was always so excited to see me. However, I will never get to experience her love because of her passing. Driving accidents and deaths are some of the scariest statistics you can look at because many people die in them each year. I became a first hand witness to what these tragedies bring. The best way to prevent such accidents and deaths every year is the use of driver’s education. Driver’s education teaches especially younger drivers but experienced ones as well the techniques to follow while driving, basic vehicle knowledge and maintenance, safety rules and precautions, traffic rules and regulations, as well as laws that keep them safe. Driver’s education is so important because it teaches drivers about responsibility and what kind of power they have behind the wheel of a car. They could potentially end their lives or people around them which is a very serious responsibility to have. Driver’s education would make sure people know the importance of being safe and following rules. These education courses are essential if progress is to be made towards lowering the death toll that vehicles have. Some steps we could take to lower this death toll would be to educate and enforce. Now what I mean by this is first you need to educate people on right and wrong. The education of the public on safety rules and laws, intoxication, defensive driving, weather conditions, distracted driving, and etc., and making this education easily accessible would get the information out there that people need to stay safe on the roads. This is the main step needed to reduce the number of deaths per year. If more people know what they should be doing, the less likely it is for someone to make a mistake on it. The next major step would be to enforce the safety rules and regulations taught in said education. Whether it is speeding, driving while under the influence, not following traffic laws, or being a reckless driver, all of these things should be punished harshly. Enforcing these rules is the only way to make sure that people follow them to a tee. A crack down on such rules and laws ultimately will keep people safe and save lives. When making mistakes like these you play with people’s lives which should be severely punished. A combination of education and enforcement will ensure that less families have to lose loved ones and people they care about. I have already mentioned my aunt who was in a fatal car crash but I have other experiences as well. My dad once told me a story about how one day he was in a truck with a bunch of his cousins and his uncle. Now my father was pretty young and so were the cousins. His uncle had a medical emergency at the wheel and veered off the road causing everything to fly around the vehicle. My dad who not only wasn’t buckled in, got hit in the head with a sharp object. He was rushed to the hospital for stitches and such to get fixed up. He was lucky to escape that with just stitches. I myself have been in a car accident. Just a little over a year ago, I was on my way to school. It was the first week of school so traffic was of course terrible and I was sitting at a stop sign. There was a line of traffic in front of me so I couldn’t see what was coming. I was waved in and without being able to see, I tried to drive across the intersection of the two roads and was t-boned. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it made me think of the what ifs. My truck was ruined but what if I had someone else in that car when the passenger side was caved in? What if the other person had been more seriously injured? These were questions that weighed heavily on my mind for a long time and still do from time to time. All these experiences and stories have taught me the valuable lessons of responsibility while on the roads and the importance of safety. Steps I and all of us can take to be better drivers are to educate ourselves on important rules and regulations, be familiar with our vehicles and surroundings, be responsible, and make sure we follow rules to a tee. Everyone can learn something new and this is no different in driving. Making sure we are educated and up to date on traffic laws, basic safety information, regulations being passed, etc., will all be things that can improve our driving abilities. Whether this be classes or just research we should all stay on top of these important topics. Everyone should be familiar with what they are driving. It may sound obvious but it is shocking how many people drive without knowing basic information about their car. How can you be responsible and on top of your duties as a driver when you don’t know important information about the vehicle you drive? Staying on top of information about your vehicle will go a long way in improving your ability as a driver. This is true about where we drive as well. Making sure we pay attention to the roads and know about our surroundings is paramount to keeping everyone safe. Whether it is certain weather conditions, the way the roads may twist and turn, and more are all things we should keep in mind when driving. Finally responsibility and rule following should be essential. We need to hold ourselves accountable and to a high standard. Making sure we are responsible and holding ourselves to these rules is of course paramount to lowering fatalities from vehicle accidents. Driving education is of the utmost importance to making sure we are all safe and responsible on the roads. With more implementation of education on this topic, the safer our society will be.