The Road Is In Your Hands

Throughout high school students like myself attend many assemblies regarding the dangers of driving while under the influence, I believe there is something missing in those assemblies. Educating students on the dangers of driving while under the influence is very important and I am glad more and more organizations are coming together with schools to help keep the roads safer. However, there are other factors that are causing our roads to not be as safe as they could and should be. For example young drivers, myself included, are not being taught the proper safety skills to keep ourselves and others around us safe. 

I have had my license for about 6 months now and to get my license I had to be 16 years of age, take a test to receive a learners permit, which allowed me to drive under adult supervision for 6 months and then take my road test. My road test consisted of a ten minute drive around the block, including a three point turn, parallel park and a left turn, all in which decided if I was ready to drive on my own safely. Looking back, I do not think that I should have been given my license that day. The reason is, I was not ready. The last time I did a parallel park was the day I took my test, so why should that assessment determine if a driver is ready to receive their drivers license? Why aren't there real life scenarios on the test? Why is it only 10-20 minutes long? Young drivers are not being properly educated before receiving their licenses. Experience plays a huge role in how well someone drives but so does proper education. When I received my license I had never driven on a through way or even highway. I had extreme anxiety and did not know many rules of the road. I often found myself in situations where I did not know what to do. Some may say parents need to do a better job educating their teens on safe driving, but why can't we bring this into schools? Just like we do with the dangers of driving while under the influence. Not all schools offer drivers Ed and not all teens can attend a drivers ed that is not affiliated with their school district. We want to decrease the number of car accidents, but the proper steps are not being taken. 

Being a safe and educated driver is important to keep others around you safe, not just other drivers but bicyclists and walking pedestrians too. Being a defensive driver is something that I have learned these past few months, you never know what others are doing on the road. This is why paying attention to your surroundings is so important. People make poor decisions while driving, texting and driving is a huge one. Trafficsafetymarketing.gov states “An estimated 94% of all car accidents are caused by driver error, which is heavily rooted in a lack of defensive driving education, inexperience, and poor decision-making.” Staying focused, being educated and practicing safe driving habits will save lives, and to me that is the most important thing. 

Heavier laws need to be put in place for drivers who make the decision to drive under the influence and for drivers who decide to distract themselves with texting. I believe that if we took away more licenses or raised the cost of tickets, the rate of these decisions would decrease and society would greatly benefit. Being a safe and educated driver comes with responsibilities that you sign up for when receiving your license. Responsibilities that include staying focused, being prepared for unfortunate or unexpected situations and taking accountability. 

Accidents occur and there is no way to fully stop them from happening, but it is important that drivers are educated on what to do if an accident does happen. When an accident occurs everyone involved deals with so many emotions and you never know who is okay and who isn't. Being educated on what to do in emergency situations is not talked about enough. Drivers, especially new drivers should be taught the proper steps to help relieve some of the stress that occurs in emergency situations. A week after my friend received her driver's license she got into an accident. She hit another vehicle from behind and immediately after started to freak out. I, who was in the passenger seat, tried to calm her down as best I could. I told her she needed to find a nearby place to pull over and someone needed to call 911. She exchanged insurance with the other driver involved and luckily everyone was okay. This example proves why being an educated driver is so important. It is important not only to keep everyone safe but also to make sure you and others are not breaking any laws. If you aren't educated on what to do if an accident occurs you might make the wrong decisions which could cause you to break the law. Overall I believe with time and change we can properly prepare drivers for the dangers of the road, which will ultimately show results proving just how important being a safe and educated driver is.