When I turned 16, it was one of the best days of my life. I had been studying for the permit test for over a month, and I was truly ready and prepared to take this test. On top of that, I was raised going out to my family's farm and driving the ATV’s out there, so I was that much more ready for my big test. Walking into the exam room, I was so excited and scared at the same time. What if I do something wrong? What if I fail? Will I have to reschedule it? Well, my hard work payed off, because I passed! I was so happy. All of that faded when I got home, and my parents sat me down for a talk. We had a conversation about how careful I need to be while driving because of the number of things that can happen. Both of my parents have been in serious car accidents when they were my age, so they made sure I knew how safe I needed to be.
There are so many kinds of accidents that can happen while driving such as falling asleep at the wheel and swerving, pressing the gas too hard and slamming into the car in front of you, or someone running a red light and T-Boning you in the middle of an intersection. Those are just a few. In the U.S. alone, there are nearly 43,000 deaths a year in fatal car accidents. That’s insane. With the right level of driver's education, most of these accidents could have been avoided. Proper driving education teaches safe habits and behavior on the roads while also decreasing the number of fatal accidents per year.
One of the first tests that can be taken to reduce driving related deaths is to teach proper driving education. In my opinion, the level of studying needed to get your permit isn't nearly enough I think there should be a class teaching you the material instead of just reading the book and practicing an online test two or three times just to know the material long enough to take the test. “Learning” that way, you don't retain the information for more than a month. But with someone teaching you, you actually learn the material. Another way we can reduce the number of driving-related accidents is to wear your seat belt. It was put there for a reason. Of the 43,000 deaths, half of them were because they didn't have their seatbelts on. They are such an important part of not only driver safety, but passenger safety as well. A third thing that can reduce the number of deaths is to avoid distractions. In the modern day, we are so glued to our phones that they can often interfere with our driving abilities. “Eww in don't like this song, I'll get on really quick to change it.” “Oh, my mom texted me, I will text her back real fast.” Excuses like these are both reasons to get on your phone while driving. You can always pull over to get on your phone, but texting and driving can distract the driver and cause them to wreck. My last reason for some things we can do to stop driving related incidents is to not drink and drive. On average, there are 5,000 accidents a year because of this, and it's a huge problem. Being under the influence can reduce your reaction time, cloud your judgement, blur your vision, and make you groggy. All these things make it extremely difficult to drive, better yet drive safely. It puts not only the driver and passenger at risk, but all the others on the road too.
Ive never had an accident myself, but I've witnessed multiple car wrecks while I have been out driving and I have had a member of my family be in one recently. My parents' best friend, who is like an aunt to me, was driving down the windy Kentucky backroads without her seatbelt on when she ran off the road and crashed into a ditch. Because she didn't have her seatbelt on, she was ejected from her seat and thrown through the front windshield. I'm not sure if she was looking at her phone, not paying attention, or just hit a slick spot in the road, but her accident caused her to be in fatal condition. She had to be airlifted to Nashville to receive medical care where they discovered she had severe head trauma from breaking the windshield and other terrible injuries. By a miracle, she is still alive, but even now she is still recovering. Car crashes can cause severe amounts of trauma, not only physically, but mentally too.
Just because I've never been in an accident myself, that doesn't mean I'm the perfect driver. To be honest, no one is. I tend to catch myself casually glancing at my phone or zoning out, swerving, and sometimes going over the speed limit. To be a better and safer driver, I could make more of an effort to completely stay off my phone while on the roads, to put my cruise control on so I stay the speed I need to go, and to not drive whenever I'm upset, sick, or tired so I can be completely focused on the driving and the road in front of me.