Driver Education
Why is driver education so important? It's important because it's a dangerous world out there! In 2005, the United States reported approximately 6,400,000 auto accidents. The cost of these accidents amounted to 230 billion dollars and 2.9 million people were injured. Statistics indicate that there is a steady increase in the number of auto accidents as every year passed. As 2009 concludes, expect there to be even more auto accidents indirectly caused by economic difficulties.
Why? Because stress makes people do erratic things. Because despair leads to alcoholic retreat. These are two of the worst traffic problems: bad driving and drunk driving. Of course, the problem of bad driving could be improved by a higher quality of driver education. If more emphasis were placed on defensive driving, and more drivers learned how to respond to difficult situations with logic and patience rather than reacting rashly, then less auto accidents would happen.
As for drunk driving, obviously more driver education and more legislation may be needed to find a lasting solution. The conundrum here is that the United States seeks to stop drunk driving but at the same time heavily promotes alcoholic beverages in bars and restaurants-that of course must be driven to and from. Many states already have notoriously stringent laws on DUI arrests (going so far as to arrest drivers that appear to be drunk, as opposed to drivers that are legally proven to be intoxicated) and adding any more legislation could upset citizens who feel entitled to drink responsibly. Again, these situations could be remedied with more driver education. If there were more active driver education campaigning happening on a regular basis, people would be exposed to the reality of DUIs and DWIs and perhaps take their sobriety more seriously.
Speeding is another major contributing factor to auto accidents in America. The urge to speed can be hard to resist, especially when you consider "road peer pressure." How can you be expected to go the legal 60 mph limit when everyone is going 70-90 and tailgating your car, hoping to speed you up? Driver education informs you to exercise defensive driving techniques. What might help is to stay to the farthest right lane, let speeders pass you up, and always stay at least a couple of car lengths away from the rest of the traffic. Anticipate what other drivers may do so you can be one step ahead of the next auto accident. These are just some of the lessons driver education can teach you.