Benefits of Drivers Education

In
recent years, teenage drivers have been the focal point of debate
regarding stricter drivers licensing requirements and raising the
legal age to drive. What other preventative measures can states take
to help minimize motor vehicle collisions involving younger drivers?

As
a teenager, I think that there should be stricter licensing laws in
the state of Arizona. I obtained my licence at the age of 16, as well
as some of my fellow peers. There was one difference between us that
I believe had a large impact on my driving and the responsibility I
took with having my license. Before I got my license, my parents had
required me to take courses at a driving school to ensure that I was
ready to get my license. This schooling included parallel parking,
three point turns, and even reverse parking; skills that were not
necessarily required to get my license or that I would use on a daily
basis, but would be beneficial in different situations. My parents
believed that if I was capable of doing good in driving school and
only then is when they think I was responsible enough to drive, not
only myself but other passengers as well. According to the U.S
Department of transportation, Twenty-three States require driver
education for all drivers under 18. An additional 6 States require
short pre- licensing courses or drug-and-alcohol-awareness courses
for all drivers under 18. If the requirement of taking drivers ed was
made a nationwide law or federal law, I believe that it will had a
drastic decrease in accidents involving teenage drivers. When in the
car with my peers, I feel safer with certain drivers and
corresponding to this feeling of safety, I later find out that they
had attended driving school as I did, prior to obtaining their
license. The danger of teen driving is highly concerning, because of
this insurance companies give parents and teen drivers an incentive
to attending driving school. Statistically, you are a lower risk to
insure after taking a drivers ed course, and that means that
the insurance companies are less likely to settle a claim on your
behalf than before taking the course. You become a lower risk and,
the savings are passed back to you in the form of a discount.

If
the driver who was at fault was a teenager who was reckless, due to
lack of education they would suffer because their insurance will
increase and in some cases they may experience post-traumatic stress.
To prevent this, many states begin to enforce requirements for
drivers ed in order to reduce the epidemic of uneducated teenage
driving. Apart from drivers ed, a software can be implemented in cars
to ensure that teen drivers can not be distracted from their mobile
devices. A software in the car or phone that eliminated access to the
phone if the vehicle is going at a significant speed, and the driver
will not regain access to their phones unless they come to a complete
stop. I think that this will reduce accidents involving teens who are
distracted from their phones. Not only will the elimination of
cellular devices decrease the number of teen driving accidents, it
can also increase the conversation passengers have with the driver
and vice versa. I do understand that passengers can also play a
factor in distracted driving, but as a society we lack face to face
interaction. The creation of a software that can be implemented in
mobile devices would not only benefit the driver and other drivers on
the road, but it may also be the turning point of our generation’s
lack of interaction.

On
a day to day basis, I drive in my school parking lot full of newly
licensed teen drivers who could have used more or better education on
driving laws and how to drive. As I would walk to class, I would pass
by a vast amount of cars that are not parked correctly, meaning they
are in the next parking slot or they did not move their car forward
enough, leaving a large amount of their cars still in the way of
other cars passing by. When paying more attention to detail, one
would notice that about every eight of ten cars withstand damages,
either through getting hit or hitting others vehicles. It is probably
true that there are many different ways that the government can
reduce teen accidents and/or fatalities across the nation, but in
order to get relatively close to making a major change, it might be a
good start to require drivers ed courses in order to obtain a
license under the age of 18. It might be difficult for teens to grasp
the concept of how much they can affect others by just simply driving
a vehicle. Because of this, I can not stress enough the fact that
drivers ed statistically proves that drivers are less likely
to get in an accident if they attend courses to educate themselves
for the safety of themselves and others.

On
a different type of distraction, in the past few years there has been
an increase in use of LED lights. LED lights might seem like a great
feature when looking into purchasing a car, but in perspective of the
car that is in front of the LED lights, it can be blinding. More
importantly, new drivers may be getting use to driving past sunset,
let alone having lights glaring through their eyes as they reflect
the rearview mirror or even the side view mirrors. At night, our eyes
are adjusting to the low pigments of brightness because of the lack
of sun. When LED lights suddenly strike their eyes, it causes a
sudden blindness that lasts for seconds. Take in mind, it does not
take long for an accident to happen; within the blink of an eye an
accident can occur, not only costing an individual their care but
potentially even their lives or the life of their loved ones.