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I used to think life was something everyone was given, it was not a gift, but it was something meaningless everyone was put through. I was five years old, feet not even touching the floor of my father’s Ford F150. The quietness of a Sunday afternoon was met with the clinking of glass on a hard metal door frame. The collapsing and turning of a vehicle turned beside me. Right in front of me a boy, 17 years old, stood in shock. I too sat there, eyes filled with tears, blood rushing the four ways stop light ahead of me, life had just begun to have a meaning.

The moment all happened so fast. A driver was distracted one way; the other way, a teenage boy was too. The two collided so fast there was nothing to stop it one car immediately flipped. The other was completely fine, but that was not the worst of the damage. The parts from the flipped car were not still intact, but more on the other side of the intersection. My father’s truck, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. The thick windshield busted into grains of glass as a car door came flying toward it, right behind the wheel, my dad, a loving husband, son, and father.

In that split second, I learned how fast life can change on the road. No warning. No time to prepare. Just glass, metal, and a terrifying silence after the impact. Luckily, my whole family was okay, but I walked away with something more lasting than any bruise or cut: the understanding that driving is serious—and that driver education is not about passing a test. It is about preparing for reality.

Teen driver safety is a public issue because it does not just affect teens—it affects everyone around them. According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for U.S. teens. Inexperience, distractions, and poor judgment create a dangerous mix when combined with a two-ton machine. A single mistake does not just affect the driver—it can take lives, break families, and traumatize communities.

When I think back to that day, I realize how many things could’ve gone worse. If my dad had swerved instead of braking, if someone had been walking nearby, or if we had been going just a few miles faster, the story could have ended differently. That is why teen driver safety matters—it only takes a moment to change everything. And often, young drivers do not even realize the weight of the responsibility they carry until it is too late.

That is where driver education comes in. But it must be more than memorizing road signs and rules. Real driver education needs to go beyond the written test and dive into the emotional, mental, and real-world preparation that teens need to stay safe. Teens need to understand the why, not just the how. Why it matters to slow down. Why distractions like phones are not just dangerous—they are deadly. Why is not being a careful driver lame—it is smart. Imagine a program where, alongside learning how to parallel park, teens hear real stories like mine. Imagine sitting in class and listening to someone talk about how they walked away from a near-death experience because their seatbelt saved them. Or watching a simulation of how quickly a crash can happen. These are not scary tactics—they are reality checks. And that is what young drivers need.

Driving education should also prepare teens for situations beyond the textbook. What if something falls off another vehicle? What if you blow a tire or get caught in unexpected weather? How do you stay calm under pressure? No one expects a flying door to crash through a windshield—but learning how to stay alert and respond under stress can be the difference between panic and protection.

Being in that crash did not make me afraid to drive. It made me respect the road. And that is what effective driver education should do—build respect. Not fear. Not arrogance. Just awareness that you are sharing the road with others and that your actions behind the wheel can ripple out in ways you might never expect.

Teen driver safety is a public issue because teens are part of the public. They drive next to teachers, toddlers, grandparents, and friends. When a teen is well-educated about driving, it is not just their life they are protecting—it is everyone else’s too. Driver education is the tool we must shape not simply good drivers, but safe communities.

If we want fewer crashes, fewer funerals, and more teens reaching adulthood, then we must invest in better driver education—education that is honest, emotional, and rooted in real-life stakes. Because sometimes, it is not about how well you can turn a corner or park between two cones. Sometimes, it is about being prepared when the unimaginable flies straight at you.