Essay on Bad Driving Habits
I would like to conduct a little activity please, if everyone could be involved. I need everyone to relax, take a big breath in, and out. In, and out, now if you could imagine an 18 month old baby…holding an epidermal needle, a syringe. It has no idea how dangerous this is and no idea on how to safely use it. Now imagine this baby, grown up, just finished medical school. It is now trained as an anesthesyist, knowing how to safely use a syringe he/she can save peoples lives with medical injections.
If you could now imagine a 16-year-old, male or female, who has just got their drivers permit. No driving experience, they haven’t ever been trained either. How dangerous can that be? Consider then the issue of safety on the roads. The road toll is too high, especially among drivers in the age bracket of 17-25 year olds, who account for 27% of all road and traffic casualties. This figure is incredibly high as this age group represents only 16% of all licensed driver and rider. This is extremely high, and there is a question that I must ask when I see these figures is, why? Why do hundreds of youths die every year while driving or riding on the road? There are a number of answers that come to mind, the most prominent being a lack of driver awareness, experience and knowledge.
At the age of 16, most people haven’t ever driven a car before, as it is against the law. They then drive for a minimum of 50 hours accompanied by a parent or guardian beside them. They are then deemed of age to take the provisional driving test to receive their P’s and drive, legally for the first time solo.
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The Australian Taxation department has released information stating the average car costs $0.53 per kilometre to run. The average wheel diameter of the average car is 20 inches. With a 20 inch diameter the average tyre is 3.19 metres in circumference.
Lets now look at this information from a youth’s perspective. 5 people in the car means that it costs 10.6 cents per person to travel 1 kilometre in the average car. Combine this with the circumference of the average tyre being 3.19m and you’ve now got fun. To some youths looking for a good time all this means that for 10.6 cents they can get a car tyre to spin 313.3 times. Relatively cheap thrills.
There are too many accidents that are caused by bad driving practices and in experience. I myself am no driving instructor, but all you need to do is look at the figures or at the roads. Driving is a privilege not a right and it should be reserved for those mature enough to accept their responsibility to drive safely.
Personally I feel that we, the youth, need to be properly instructed and monitored while we learn to drive. If we can illiminate bad driving habits early on it should carry on into the middle and latter stages of our driving life. I suggest that driver training starts in school. In a number of states in America this is part of the school ciriculum, and is very beneficial. If this does not occur than two, 6-hour driver training courses should be attended. This program is compulsory when applying for a motorbike riders learner permit and has consequently decreased the number of motorcycle fatalities by 27% since it was introduced 12 years ago.
Then, at 17 or when the person goes for their P’s, the practical test should be a lot more comprehensive and a lot harder! Basics like how to safely refuel, and parking on a 45 degree angle are not tested, even though both are skills required when driving alone.
After getting your P’s and holding then for a year there is a hazard perception test. I feel that at this point in time there should also be a practical test involved also, to make sure safe driving practices are still being carried out. After moving onto a full licence a driving exam should be administered every 3-4years. At the moment this does not occur, so people can pick up bad driving habit the day after they get their P’s, which will jeopardise their lives and the lives of others around them, and no one will pick up on it until it is too late.
These suggestions may sound ludicrous, and quite a few people will say “What about the cost?!?”. In the worst case scenario, taxes rise as the government helps to pay for it all, but if it saves lives…who is in the position to say that it costs too much. That would require them to put a value on someone’s life. That life could be anyone’s, including you or me.
If you could now imagine a 16-year-old, male or female, who has just got their drivers permit. No driving experience, they haven’t ever been trained either. How dangerous can that be? Consider then the issue of safety on the roads. The road toll is too high, especially among drivers in the age bracket of 17-25 year olds, who account for 27% of all road and traffic casualties. This figure is incredibly high as this age group represents only 16% of all licensed driver and rider. This is extremely high, and there is a question that I must ask when I see these figures is, why? Why do hundreds of youths die every year while driving or riding on the road? There are a number of answers that come to mind, the most prominent being a lack of driver awareness, experience and knowledge.
At the age of 16, most people haven’t ever driven a car before, as it is against the law. They then drive for a minimum of 50 hours accompanied by a parent or guardian beside them. They are then deemed of age to take the provisional driving test to receive their P’s and drive, legally for the first time solo.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
The Australian Taxation department has released information stating the average car costs $0.53 per kilometre to run. The average wheel diameter of the average car is 20 inches. With a 20 inch diameter the average tyre is 3.19 metres in circumference.
Lets now look at this information from a youth’s perspective. 5 people in the car means that it costs 10.6 cents per person to travel 1 kilometre in the average car. Combine this with the circumference of the average tyre being 3.19m and you’ve now got fun. To some youths looking for a good time all this means that for 10.6 cents they can get a car tyre to spin 313.3 times. Relatively cheap thrills.
There are too many accidents that are caused by bad driving practices and in experience. I myself am no driving instructor, but all you need to do is look at the figures or at the roads. Driving is a privilege not a right and it should be reserved for those mature enough to accept their responsibility to drive safely.
Personally I feel that we, the youth, need to be properly instructed and monitored while we learn to drive. If we can illiminate bad driving habits early on it should carry on into the middle and latter stages of our driving life. I suggest that driver training starts in school. In a number of states in America this is part of the school ciriculum, and is very beneficial. If this does not occur than two, 6-hour driver training courses should be attended. This program is compulsory when applying for a motorbike riders learner permit and has consequently decreased the number of motorcycle fatalities by 27% since it was introduced 12 years ago.
Then, at 17 or when the person goes for their P’s, the practical test should be a lot more comprehensive and a lot harder! Basics like how to safely refuel, and parking on a 45 degree angle are not tested, even though both are skills required when driving alone.
After getting your P’s and holding then for a year there is a hazard perception test. I feel that at this point in time there should also be a practical test involved also, to make sure safe driving practices are still being carried out. After moving onto a full licence a driving exam should be administered every 3-4years. At the moment this does not occur, so people can pick up bad driving habit the day after they get their P’s, which will jeopardise their lives and the lives of others around them, and no one will pick up on it until it is too late.
These suggestions may sound ludicrous, and quite a few people will say “What about the cost?!?”. In the worst case scenario, taxes rise as the government helps to pay for it all, but if it saves lives…who is in the position to say that it costs too much. That would require them to put a value on someone’s life. That life could be anyone’s, including you or me.
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