Reacting to teen driving

Kathryn
Crowley

Reacting
to Teen Driving

I
have been driving for almost two years and I have already been in
three car crashes. I was in two crashes where I was a passenger, and
a driver in one accident where I hit a parked car. The first accident
I was in was when I was in 6th grade and my mom distracted my stepdad
which made him almost rear end someone but diverted by pulling off
the road, unfortunately my step sister was behind us and rear ended
his car. I was a bit shaken up but we were all perfectly okay. The
problem with this car was not experience but reaction time. Teen
drivers do not have a good reaction time and have too many
distractions which is why I think behind the wheel and drivers ed
needs to practice reaction time and distractions.

I
have never been on my phone while driving which I think really helps
my driving. I make sure all my friends know I am driving and that I’m
connected to bluetooth if I need to talk to someone. Unlike me, my
brother is always on his phone. In December my brother got in a minor
fender bender. I was with him and I noticed a few things. He didn’t
have ABS on, He couldn’t see the light, and his reaction time was
bad. My brother has been driving with a license since the end of July
and he already crashed in December. Statistically teen drivers are
likely to get in crash 6 months after driving.

Even
though he did rear end someone the accidentally wasn’t
totally his fault. Someone in the front of the lane stopped as soon
as the light turned yellow which made the driver behind her stop and
my brother hit the driver. Obviously when you rear end someone its
completely your fault but his distance was good, he wasn’t on his
phone, and his reaction time sucks.

I
learned from this accident that drivers need time to built up
reaction time. By sending teen drivers on the road with no experience
obviously there will be more accidents. Behind the wheel just talks
about the basics of driving but I think all teens need to go through
courses like B.R.A.K.E.S. I went through B.R.A.K.E.S and I think it
helped immensely. We did hard stops and a bunch of other skills and I
think now if I was too close I could stop in time. I think all
drivers need to go through basic reaction driving and distracted
driving so they can understand the feeling, because its a scary one.
Obviously cellphones are the biggest problem and you cant regulate
what teens are doing when they drive, but parents can. When you get
your required hours all parents should take their kids phones so they
wont be distracted. The reason so many crashes happen is because so
many teens are distracted which messes up their reaction time.

If
I could I would implement a safety course that is required before
getting your license. In North Carolina we only need sixty hours
before we can get out license and even though thats a lot of hours we
don’t usually learn the most important stuff. I have only been able
to build up my reaction time because of brakes which is why I think
all teen drivers need to go through a course like that before
driving. It will help the minor accidents and ultimately lead to
better driving and more experience. Scaring kids wont do anything but
hey need to actually feel whats its like to experience a crash or a
slam on the brakes, which is why classes should be a requirement.