When I got my license, I was excited to have freedom, but I was also nervous because I knew how dangerous the roads could be, even if you were driving safely. Unfortunately, not everyone follows the safe driving practices they are taught. When I took driver education, it was online because of the pandemic, and I could tell people weren't paying attention. I know I spaced out a few times, but I still did my best to learn the information and took the exams and assignments seriously. When I took my test, I just drove down a straight road, did a K-turn in a neighborhood, and then backed in and was given my license. I don't think it should be this easy to obtain the ability to operate something with the power to kill others or yourself. Driver education should go a little more in-depth; they should talk more about accidents and small mistakes people made that got them killed. This may seem extreme, but people, especially teens, think that getting into a car accident is only something they hear about—something that happens to other people but will never happen to them. Everyone needs to be taught that it takes one glance at a phone or stepping a little harder on the gas to rip away someone's life.

Driver education is the first step to preventing early drivers from being unsafe, but there needs to be more ways to increase safe driving among everyone. I believe that every 5 years, people should have to be retested for their license. Taking away someone's license is a huge inconvenience to them, so if they know they have to keep up safe driving habits to get it back every 5 years, they might be encouraged to follow the rules. This would also be a good policy for older drivers. My grandma is 84 years old, and she is a horrible driver. Whenever I get in the car with her, I have to stay loose and brace myself for her lead foot and the terrifying merging. If people were tested more often, her license would be taken away, and there would be one less reckless driver off the road. Some people were good drivers, but as they aged, their vision, hearing, or judgment abilities declined, and they are now too proud to stop driving, and don't want to have to give up their freedom, and rely on other people to get around. Being forced to stop driving will make it easy to get them off the road. Driving is a privilege that should not be taken lightly. It is essential to ensure that drivers on the road are capable of safely operating a vehicle.
I have seen how reckless driving affects people. A few years ago, I went on vacation with my parents and their friends. The day they left, they woke up before us and drove home with their two kids. A woman who was driving drunk crashed into them. If they hadn't borrowed a truck from a family member, their two-year-old son on the side where the car hit would not be alive today. They were driving exactly how they should have been, and it was someone else’s mistake that almost destroyed them. They are lucky to be alive, but a lot of people have it worse. Some people lose their family or friends due to someone else's or their own thoughtless and irreversible actions. The best preventative measure for car accidents is facing legal trouble for reckless driving, but the only time that happens is when an incident has occurred. If more police stop people or if there are cameras on the street, it would create a sense of accountability and deterrence among drivers. The fear of getting caught on camera and facing consequences would encourage individuals to drive more responsibly and adhere to traffic laws. Increasing awareness about the dangers of distracted driving and enforcing stricter penalties for offenders could help reduce the number of car-related crimes.
Although I think that I am a good driver, there are times when I do not follow every rule that I learned in driver education. I have to be more thoughtful when it comes to being on the road and be more aware of my own actions as well as those of other people. There isn't much I, as an individual, can do to help others become safer, but I will try to educate the people around me on how to be a safer driver and the consequences of not following the rules of the road.