November 28, 2018

It
was November 28, 2018 and I was driving with a friend to our favorite
camp for a weekend retreat. It was snowing but our excitement clouded
our minds of realizing the danger of driving in extreme weather. We
ended up in a ditch, we were both fine and he managed to drive out of
the ditch. Unfortunately, about thirty minutes later, Ethan hit
another car. I remember being so scared in that moment. I remember my
head slamming back against the seat. I remember the pain. Luckily, he
was only going about 15 miles and hour so we all were okay despite
some injuries. I had sprained my neck, gotten whiplash, and a
concussion. Ethan busted his knee and could not walk for a while. I
am very fortunate that the accident was not deadly, like so many
others, and that after a few months when the concussion faded I was
able to live life normally. This is not the case for so many people.
However, I believe that this accident could have been prevented with
driving education. Ethan did attend drivers ed in high school but
said that he slept through a lot of it, including the part in which
we learned about driving in adverse weather.

Alternatively,
if he would have listened, we could have gotten their safely or
realized the dangers and drove up the next day. Driving education is
so important and I can not emphasize that enough. Anyone on the road
should learn the rules and safety precautions in order to not be a
hazard to their safety as well as other’s safety. I believe there
are some ways to ensure that the majority of drivers have education
regarding the roads. My first idea is reducing the cost of driver’s
ed. I know so many students who were not able to afford driving
education in high school so they waited until they were 18 to get
their permit. With lower costs, this would open more opportunities.
Secondly, training all driving education instructors. I personally
loved my instructor, I found her very nice and helpful, but some
instructors seem to care more about the money than the safety. For
example, Ethan’s instructor let him sleep and slack off. This
should not be okay because this results in students not getting the
proper education. Lastly, potentially changing the curriculum to be
more optimistic. Drivers ed had many videos of people getting in
crashes and many statistics about people dying. This scared me but I
have confidence in my driving skills that prohibits me from being a
hesitant driver. Alternatively, this is not the case for many others.
I have numerous friends who will barely drive due to fear and when
they do drive it is dangerously under the speed limit. I believe a
more optimistic look at driving could prevent many crashes and be
more encouraging to young students. All in all, from my own
experiences I can conclude that driving education is essential to the
American safety.