Behind the wheel

You just turned sixteen and are going to the local DMV to take your driver’s test. You have never been so excited in your life because this will show independence, freedom, and responsibility. You will be able to go from place to place on your own or even swing by your friend’s house to give them a ride also. You will never have to have your parents drive you to and from school, to and from a sporting event, or just to go hang out with your friends. When overwhelmed by all this excitement, teenagers often lose sight that driving is a privilege not a right. This problem is what needs to be addressed more often to not only new drivers but “experienced” drivers.

With driving comes risk. According to the Texas Department of Transportation in 2022, there were 4,481 deaths due to motor vehicle crashes (Texas Department of Transportation, 2). As new drivers and even “experienced” drivers, it is important to know and reiterate the risks that come with the hard card allowing you to drive legally, so that these deaths can begin to lower day by day. The use of Driver Education is the most effective way to do so, in my opinion, to help limit the daily deaths from the cause of irresponsible driving. When working one’s way to getting their drivers permit and license, we are required to complete a certain number of hours to be educated properly on the most safe and effective ways to drive behind the wheel. The information can come across as boring, but it is incredibly important to be familiar with all of the requirements and information when one is out and about on the highways. This helps to make them aware of how their actions will impact others on the road with them. One of the most preached actions while driving is wearing a seatbelt. You often hear or even see billboards with the phrase “click it before you ticket.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that by wearing seat belts, approximately 14,955 lives have been saved in 2023 so far. Wearing a seatbelt is a lesson that is taught while taking drivers ed and most people know to click in their seatbelt before even putting their vehicle in “drive” while many still do not partake in this action, causing deaths that can be prevented by one simple task. While wearing a seatbelt is taught in drivers’ education, there are also many other important points that are not always followed by drivers today. The three second rule is often looked over while going down the highway. You are in such a hurry to get home so you are right behind the truck in front of you. You are running late to school and need to pass but the passing zone is not for another mile, so you will just stay close behind the vehicle which will make it easier to pass when the time comes. Something runs out in front of the vehicle in front of you causing them to hit their breaks without enough time for you to hit your as well before rear ending them. One might think “oh it’s just a rear end, no big deal” … wrong. The vehicle in front of you might not have insurance, the damage might not be too terrible for you, but what about the driver in the other vehicle? In Driver Education, it is covered over and over to keep three seconds between you and the vehicle in front of you. This rule is in place to for safety reasons along with prevention of major accidents that could result in death. Driver Education is put in place to educate individuals on safe driving that will allow them to make smart decisions while on the road, it is not just to bore teenagers before they get their license. This makes it the driver’s responsibility to implicate these rules to their following passengers and when they are a passenger to another driver.

Although I have never been in a true car accident, I have been in situations where my actions could have caused a major problem. One very early morning I was headed to basketball practice and was already running late. Of course, to just add onto me being in a hurry to get there on time, our gate was opening at the speed of molasses. I decided that it would not be a big deal if I were to go through before it was able to open all the way. This was not my best idea. While trying to get on the road as quickly as possible, the gate had caught the back of my tire causing me to be jerked around and the gate having damage to it. While I was in this huge hurry, I was not able to think of the consequences of me hurrying. What if the gate wasn’t there to catch my tire and make me realize that I needed to slow down? What if I were to keep going at the speed I was and go onto the highway that we live off? I would have probably not had a great outcome, I would have been going too fast to stop before I hit a deer running out in the middle of the road, I wouldn’t have had time to stop if a car was coming while I was pulling out of our drive. There are too many possibilities of what could have gone wrong due to me not thinking about the others on the road and myself. Even though drivers’ education was boring, and I honestly just wanted to get through it, it allows me to remember how I am supposed to safely drive as I share the great highway with others. This experience has been able to strengthen my commitment to being a safer driver because what I do does not only affect me but others around me.

Certainly, Driver Education is able to make a great impact on teen driving and the habits that they will start to possess. Being in a hurry, not paying attention to what you are doing can be the difference between not only you, but others life and death. Those who partake in Driver Education and pay attention to it are more likely to take into consideration the consequences that could happen due to unsafe driving. Preventing distracted driving, despite whatever distraction it may be, saves lives day by day, making the biggest impact on teenage drivers. Making sure that a completion of Driver Education is required before one obtains a license, we would see fewer car crashes. This requirement would also be more effective if adults were required to refresh their memory on the safest ways to drive. If all these regulations were implemented, the rate of deaths due to car crashes would decrease significantly.