The Importance of Educated Driving

Ashley Morgan

Senior at Northwest High School

In the Driver’s Seat essay contest

July 14, 2019

The Importance of Educated Driving

Every teen and preteen at some point fantasizes about driving their first car, and taking that first leap of independence. However, inexperience makes teens dangerous drivers and without the proper training or education, they can’t get better. If teens can’t get better, they’re at risk of dying or being the cause of someone else’s death. A study in 2015 on how Driver’s Ed reduces teen crashes and tickets followed more than 150,000 teen drivers over eight years. This study found that drivers ed significantly reduces crashes and traffic violations in new drivers. The results showed that young drivers who have not completed drivers ed are 75 percent more likely to get a traffic ticket, 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or injury accident and 16 percent more likely to have an accident.

The first step in reducing the number of deaths related to car accidents, would be education. There are millions of programs designed to help teens to be safer drivers. The organization behind this scholarship, DMVEDU.org, does an amazing job of providing online Drivers Ed and Traffic School to places such as California, Georgia, and Nevada. Other programs, such as Ford’s Driving Skills for Life, offer a different type of training. Having been through the course myself, I know the tips and tricks on the rougher edges of driving. We did sessions on distracted driving, icy road conditions (how to correct a spinning car), car anatomy, and impaired driving. The second step, and last step, would be to apply your newfound information and knowledge to teach your friends about the various programs that make them safer on the road. If you wish to help more people than your immediate circle, you could volunteer as an instructor for programs that need help.

As a teenager myself, I’m not immune to accidents. Within my first year of driving, I was waving at a neighbor and misjudged how far away a curve was, I ended up going into the ditch and messing up the car paint. Out of my two years of driving, this is still the only accident I have caused, but not the first I’ve been in. The first accident I was in was after my dad’s wedding. My mamaw was driving me and my siblings home, she told my step-brother that he didn’t need to put his seatbelt on if it was giving him trouble. I had forced the seatbelt on and was the best choice I’ve ever made. Later we swerved off the road to avoid hitting a deer and instead hit a tree, if my step-brother didn’t have his seatbelt on, he would’ve been launched through the front window. Other than that, my mamaw is a safe driver, however, bad driving didn’t miss my aunt Lisa. When Lisa drives, she speeds, then when people in front of her are “too slow” she gets really close to them and causes the whole car ride to be uncomfortable.