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I Get Your Drift

Name: Tyler Johnson
From: Houston , Texas
Votes: 0

Tyler Johnson

I
am not saying that I am the perfect driver, at all, because I have my
fair share mistakes, too. Rather, I’m saying that nobody is the
perfect driver and we’re all far from that title.

While I’m pretty
sure everybody dreaded or will dread the process of drivers’-ed,
from the classroom/computer to the student driver car, it engraves
simple rules and safety concerns in our minds, for without it, the
worldwide number of accidents that occur would be the same as there
are drivers. It’s so important because while some may know some of
the information given, everybody learns something new about driving,
road safety, and their vehicle, for it not only teaches the
fundamentals rules of the road and the basic car functions, which are
also crucial to road safety, it teaches you how to be more
cognoscente of the small things while driving, or ‘defensive
driving’. I also had the attitude that I knew everything and
exactly what drivers’-ed would supposedly teach me, and was proven
completely wrong, for the abundance of instructors and programs
really do know that not many people follow most of the rules that is
taught for them to even have a license and tell you, in a vague
concepts, to avoid harm to anybody when these situations happen
around you. With the courses, I see things that help me either laugh
or shake my head at my younger self for questioning some of my
parents’ decision making while driving.

Along with the
program, there are many other crucial steps to ensuring a safe and
not deadly road trip no matter how long it is. A brief selection of
them are to always wear a seatbelt, keep your phone on silent, do not
disturb mode, or just turn it off to completely minimize the
temptation of using it, not being afraid to pull over or take a
‘pit-stop’ (in parking lots, side lanes, fields, etc.), and
lastly going routes that are comfortable to your extent and
knowledge. I know that most of these steps are very cliché or
redundant, but while we all may know these steps, actually abiding by
them consistently is a major safety booster for you and other drivers
and pedestrians around you. Even though I am blessed to never have
been involved in an accident, I have been in plenty near-accidental
situations both while I may have been driving or in one of the
passenger seats, and another crucial aspect to road safety is holding
yourself and others accountable for incorrect or unsafe actions that
you notice. This helps everyone by raising general awareness, and
while I do hold others, and myself, accountable driving, I can also
improve so there is no question that they fully understand the
importance of the situation. I feel that accountability behind our
mistakes, no matter how small they may be, is the step needed to
prevent the bigger mistakes on the road and to simply improve us as
drivers.