The Privilege of Driving

Whenever you first begin the driver’s ed lessons, one of the big sayings that you read is “Driving is not a right, it is a privilege.”And that saying is completely true because people who have a driver's license are those who follow the rules and drive safely and if they do not do any of those things, then that license could be easily taken away. Being a safe driver is very important because it relies on the lives of the driver and even other drivers. Driver education is needed for all drivers so as to understand the rules of the road and understand the safety for the driver and the pedestrians. Driver education teaches people about speed limits, driving under the influence, and how the roads work. When I was taking my driving course, I had no idea that even some over-the-counter medications can impair your driving and I am sure others do not know that either. People can get seriously injured for the mistakes of others and not learning and it is not worth it. There are a couple of things people can do themselves to help reduce the number of deaths related to driving. Obeying traffic laws is one of the main things that a driver should always do all the time. The traffic laws are there for a reason and they are meant to keep everyone safe. Skipping a stop sign just because it is an empty area is not something anybody should do. Although it may look like an empty area and no cars ever pass by, anything can happen and there is a chance someone might be crossing the street or a car shows up. No chances should be taken when it comes to traffic laws and it is better to be safe than sorry. Nobody should ever speed because it is not safe. Nobody should ever go behind the wheel when they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Alcohol and drugs affect the way the brain works and it delays reactions. Making sure you are safe before going on the road is an important step to keep the roads safe. My brother and my dad sometimes have the bad habit of using their phone while they are driving. This is really bad because if they are using their phone while driving, their eyes are not 100% on the road. This is an irresponsible driving habit and we always make sure and tell them to put their phones away. If they are trying to respond to a text, I always offer to just answer for them if I am in the car with them because I know that I do not want to be in the car with someone who is not all the way focused on the road. By offering to answer the text for them, this will make sure they are not on the phone and that they are paying attention. Someone that I know once drove when they were under the influence of alcohol which is very dangerous. They were pulled over by the police and charged with a DUI because they were drinking before they were on the road. Although I did feel bad that they had to pay a lot of money and they lost their license, I do not feel that bad because I think that they deserve it. They put their lives and others at risk because of that decision and I would rather have the cops catch them and make them pay instead of having the ambulance catch them because of an accident. I just recently got my driver’s license so I am a fairly new driver on the road. I make sure that I pay attention to all of the rules and I never use my phone while driving. Because I am a new driver, a big step that I take to be safer is that I do not drive anybody who is not my mom or siblings. I cannot risk the lives of other people like my friends because of how new of a driver I am. Another step I could take to drive safer would be to not always listen to my favorite songs when I am driving. I do not want to be focused on the music when I am supposed to be focused on the road so I need to make sure I listen to music on the radio if I want to listen to music because they don’t always play my favorite songs