Balanced Driving

As a new driver, every time I sit in front of the driving wheel, I am eternally grateful to even have the choice to be able to drive and to live in a society that allows teens like me to learn how to drive safely.

Unfortunately, even with all of the safety precautions taken, and tests needed to pass in order to get your license, still, unfortunately, teen drivers are the demographic of drivers that get into the most accidents. I don’t think this is because all teenagers and new drivers are bad drivers, but as a new driver myself, who is overly cautious when I am at the wheel, I have found that many other new drivers are the same. If the new drivers are not overly cautious, they seem to be overly confident, and maybe that can be from the adrenaline rush of passing their driver’s test or being able to drive alone for the first time, but there seems to rarely be a happy medium between overly cautious and overly confident. When I see experienced drivers, like my parents, or qualified bus driver, they are confident behind the steering wheel, but not in a cocky sense. Their driving is smooth, and you can tell they have many years of experience behind the wheel. A new driver may spend much longer at an intersection waiting for an opening, for when they decide to pull out, they are hesitant and slow going. This can be very dangerous, so an experienced driver may be able to recognize and be confident enough to pull out much faster, but still equally as safe, if not, safer. To reduce the number of driving-related deaths, it is important to teach the new driver the importance of confidence, and how that is different from being a cocky driver. There is a distinct fine line between the two; A confident driver does not have to second guess the rules of the road, while a cocky driver believes that the rules of the road don’t apply to them, and that is more likely to lead to an accident. Cocky drivers mostly include people who have just recently gotten their license, and feel invincible. Not all accidents are caused by cocky drivers, though, It can also be caused by the complete opposite. An unconfident driver is just as likely to get themselves into an accident. These people are the other portion of new drivers. These new drivers tend to feel unconfident because of the stigma that can be built up around driving, the fear of driving by themselves and being in control of an entire vehicle, with no support sitting next to them in the passenger seat. It is ok to be nervous when you first start driving, but it is important to not let your nerves get the best of you behind the wheel because that can lead to making your decision-making slower, and cause you to freeze up, which is not ideal. To help eliminate the type of drivers that second guess their turns, and go under the speed limit a dangerous amount, I think it is important to teach not just the dangers and causes of accidents from being a cocky new driver, but also the dangers of being a hesitant new driver. One thing I have overcome as a relatively new driver is coming over the speed bump of nerves I had when I drove alone. I knew it could cause a negative association with driving, and in our current society, in rural America, it is critical to be able to drive, for public transportation is not always all too supportive, and your destination tends to be more out of reach than a walking distance. Sometimes, all you need is more time, to get over that bump, and others may need encouragement from their friends and family. In my experience, it was a mix of both.

Because of this, and the growing population causing busier and busier roads, it is important to teach confidence over being a cocky driver, or being constantly anxious while behind the wheel. Whether this is something you learn from watching your parents drive as you grow up, or something you learn in your driving lessons, I believe that half of the battle when it comes to accidents in correlation with new drivers is mindset and confidence level as a driver. I have luckily never been in a car accident, or have witnessed one, but one of my peers, who was a new driver at the time, totaled her car. Based on the times I had seen her driving, I put together that she was a very confident driver, she had quick sharp turns and knew where she was going, but it seemed that she must have gotten a little bit too comfortable with driving, because one day she drove into, and totaled her car in a ditch. This happened on a private road, where another one of my peers lives, and I have been on that road many times, and as a driver more on the cautious side, I never go fast down there, for it is bumpy, and on a quiet road, so it is better to take the more careful route. Luckily, she was not hurt, but ever since that accident, I realized what the distinction between a confident driver and a cocky driver is.

I think one way to decrease the number of accidents caused by new drivers is to focus some more time on having open discussions on the nerves around driving, to help break the stigma, and fear that many people find when it comes to driving. On the other side, it is also important to have an open conversation about the difference between confidence and being a cocky driver, and what that can look like in new drivers. I think in a driver’s ed lesson, it is important not just to lecture, and show videos of how to drive, but to have open discussions about your nerves around driving, and why you should not be overly confident.

As a student, I remember things that I say in class much longer than what the teacher said, which is why I love having discussions in class, for I can formulate the knowledge that has gained from the lecture, and I am able to say it out loud in a way other students may resonate with more, or maybe just so that when I do have my license, I can think back to what was being discussed, when it comes to confidence over being cocky, and to be able to realign myself.