The importance of driver education in reducing the number deaths because of driving is to be self-aware of your surroundings and to drive more carefully to be a more responsible driver. We have specific rules in driver education to make the road safer and to make sure that people are mindful of pedestrians and other drivers on the road as well. As we learn in driver’s education, we learn about potential danger on the road due to weather conditions. Also a driver’s ignorance on the road and making everyone unsafe on the road. Also, we learn the benefits of how vehicles work and different techniques to drive. Because of driving education, it raises awareness and strategies to avoid dangerous habits and dangerous situations. Also, driver education can help lower the chances of accidents and deaths caused by drinking and driving, texting on your phone, or speeding.
One of the easiest steps to be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is to have Empathy. Empathy is one of the key things to have while driving for me. Because see it as this, you are driving along with other drivers, these drivers have family, friends, and people who cherish them. And driving carelessly, for example, drinking and driving, texting on your phone, and speeding can cause optional danger to others on the road. This shows a lack of empathy since you are putting other driver's life in danger with your carelessness. It is your responsibility to be a safe driver and to share the road with other drivers. Another step is to ensure you have enough distance between you and the driver ahead of you on the road. This will make you have a safer stop. The reason for this is if a driver ahead of you makes a rough/sharp stop and if you are too close to the driver ahead of you, you will end up colliding with them. This scenario is also the same as tailgating, when a driver or you drive too closely, with any sort of amount of space to stop safely if the driver ahead stops fast. However, remembering to give the driver ahead of your distance, it will keep you not at risk with a dangerous accident.
I believe my mom has been in 2 car accidents and my dad was in a motorcycle accident. However, I would not say my parents were driving irresponsibly, they had more accidents that were out of their control. My mom's first car accident was in her 20s, she was blinded by the sun's glare against her front windshield. Because of this, she crashed into someone’s car. Her second car crash was when she was 24 or 25 and someone crashed into her car. The driver was in the left lane but turned right in her lane. The driver was not paying attention and hit the side of her car. How my dad got into an accident is when he recently got new tires for his motorcycle. But, for some reason, they were slippery, I do not know if it was intentional or not. However, when riding his motorcycle, he lost control on his motorcycle and slid into a barbed-wire fence. Thankfully, he survived because he was wearing his helmet. If he did not wear it, he would not be here today. However, He sadly broke his arms and dislocated his shoulder. Because of this, He needed to wear a leg brace. He also had to do physical therapy to be able to walk again. It was a tough time when this happened. Since my mom had to leave work for 3 months to help my dad heal again. And while doing that, she had to take care of me since I was a baby when this happened. And of course, we got rid of that motorcycle, funny enough, my dad was upset about it.
Steps that I can take to be a safer driver and help others on the road are: Turn on your signals. I say this because, where I live, I see many drivers on the road who do not put their signals on. So, they would randomly turn into the next lane without any signal. I would say this is careless driving; it does not matter if there is no one around or someone is extremely far away in the next line; you should always turn on your signal. It can also be dangerous. Someone can absurdly turn into your lane without their signal, and this can cause an accident. Also, turning on your signal helps other drivers around you understand your intentions. I can help someone with this certain step is my grandmother. Can sometimes I catch her without them turning on their signals when there are not people around? I know there will be no one to be injured. Regardless of that, you should always turn it on and predict the unexpected. Another step I can take is avoid distractions. When I say distractions, I mean texting and looking at your phone. Being a teenager, I am usually all the time on my phone, and it takes my focus off many important things I need to do like doing my homework and studying. However, for me to be a safer driver, I need to put the phone down. I can do this by putting screen time on my phone so certain messages can go through, like emergencies. Also, I can completely turn off my phone when I am on the road driving and only look at my notifications when I make a complete stop and am not driving anymore (for example, parking lot or coming back home). I feel like texting or looking at your phone is the biggest reason it is alarming to see teenagers on the road. Since we are normally on it all the time, we get anxious when we are not on it. Thus, causes us to go on too much when driving, trying to see how many notifications we got, seeing if anyone called us or not. I can see why teenagers go on their phones when driving since. We are so used to picking up our phone immediately and seeing if the notifications are important or not. There is a reason DMV put it for teenagers to never look at their phones when driving. Since it is quite alarming that most accidents are from texting and driving. I can help others to become safer drivers on the road, for example, by sharing my concerns with my friends about how distracted they are on their phones while driving. I can also add about the risks and how a moment of distraction can lead to serious accidents. By also telling them real-life examples of accidents due to texting while driving, we will hopefully open their minds to turning off their phones while driving unless it is an emergency.