Driving, such a big accomplishment in someone’s life, especially for a sixteen-year-old teenager. To a teenager driving means freedom, a great chance to get away from the rules of their parents and make their own decisions about where they want to go, and what they want to do. I personally got my driver's license a year ago, and oh boy was it a long process. I took a couple of months longer than my peers to get my driver's license because both my parents and I wanted to make sure that I completed all the requirements for getting a driver's license in Georgia. I made sure to read the Georgia Drivers Manuel and drive for the required forty- day plus six-night driving hours with one of my parents. Then further on from that when I was almost done with all my surveillanced driving hours, I completed an online class near my city and drove for another three two-hour sessions with my advanced driving instructor. It was quite a long, monotonous, and stressful ordeal. And yet now that I look back at all the hands-on experience I got from drivers' education I feel as though I could not have been more prepared to drive on my own.
Drivers' education is so important because it taught me not only hands-on driving experience but also so much more information that I would need to know when driving on the road. I believe that if everyone took a step and effort to actually pay attention during their driver's education course then accidental driving deaths would be less prevalent in America. Another step that I think is really important for both new driving teens and myself is that every driver should always be aware of whether they are cognitive and awake enough to drive amongst all the fast dangerous cars on the road, especially at night. Getting enough sleep is so important when it comes to driving because a lack of sleep can be so detrimental on the road. This issue took place in my own family when my aunt passed away due to falling asleep while driving and facing an awful car accident. I am sure that so many can personally relate to that story with their own personal experience. Now looking back at the sad accident, I think maybe if she had pulled over onto the shoulder of the road to catch a quick nap or chose to get a cup of coffee somewhere then maybe that accident would have never happened. I as well experienced a crazy driving experience with my seventeen-year-old friend when she was driving us to the movie theater and Goodwill for a fun hangout day. However, even though she had her driver's license before I did, I felt completely unsafe as a passenger in her car. My friend was very unconfident and distracted when she was driving us, to the point where she ran into the curb while turning into Goodwill. That experience made me feel completely unsafe as a passenger in her car. That experience makes me as well believe that taking Drivers Education helps brings confidence to an early driver beginning to drive on the road. I believe this healthy confidence created in newer drivers from drivers' education is good because then drivers will be less likely to freak out when something crazy happens on the road. Instead, a confident driver will know how to handle a crazy situation because they have already learned how to react to it in Drivers Education.
I have as well taken massive steps to encourage my fifteen-year-old brother to read the Georgia Drivers Manuel and pay attention to his own drivers' education, because he will soon be driving himself. At the moment he thinks that driver's education is not very important, but I make sure to constantly confirm to him how important it actually is. The education and experiences that he learns in Drivers Education could potentially save his life one day when he is driving on his own or maybe someone else’s life. Driver’s Education is so important to the point that it could be effective in potential life or death situations on the road. So, I find it very important that my brother takes his Drivers Education seriously.
So, in conclusion based off my aunt's tragic death and being a passenger with my teenage friend, I take steps to pay attention and be present while I am driving, because not only am I responsible for my own life, but also the lives of my passengers and those driving around me. Furthermore I hope that when my peers and my fifteen-year-old brother see me driving attentively, then my friends will be motivated to drive safer and more cautiously themselves, and my brother will seek to pay attention in his own drivers education so that he can be a safe driver on the road as well.