The Importance of Driver's Education

Bergen Stockstad

As my grandpa prepares for a left turn, I brace myself. My heart starts beating fast. My palms become sweaty. The hair on my neck begins to stand up. My adrenaline spikes. He turns left as a car in the oncoming lane of traffic continues down the road. The car abruptly switches lanes, allowing my grandpa to complete a hasty, unsafe turn that could have resulted in a dangerous accident.

My grandpa grew up in a time period where drivers ed was almost nonexistent. Kids didn’t ride in car seats, no one wore seat belts, and children drove without a license or proper education on a regular basis, working on the family farm or driving with their friends. Today, life is different. The number of car accidents continues to increase, as texting, drinking, and not wearing a seatbelt while driving are common occurrences. The most impactful way to stop these deaths is through drivers ed.

Driver’s education is not readily available to all aspiring drivers, but by creating more awareness for these courses, making them widely available in high schools across America, and making practice resources for future drivers available at a low cost, we can significantly reduce the number of driving deaths in our country and protect all drivers. As a driver myself, I have learned to always be cautious on the road. I’ve learned to keep calm in stressful situations, pay attention to my surroundings, and communicate to others on the road what I am doing. It is everyone’s pet peeve when someone doesn’t use a signal while switching lanes or drives while distracted. As a driver I can encourage those I know that drive to make smart decisions and ask for help when they need it, not to drive drunk or text and drive. I can provide helpful tips to other drivers and communicate my own intentions on the road adequately to allow other people around me to drive safely. Without drivers ed, I would not have learned the skills I use every day, and I could not help others be responsible on the road. No one wants to have the feeling I’ve had when I’ve driven with irresponsible drivers like my grandpa, that anxious, uncertain feeling. If everyone on the road has access to drivers ed resources and practices safe driving skills, our country can reduce its number of deaths related to driving.