In the Driver’s Seat

In
the Driver’s
Seat

I’m
from Italy and there, between driving theory school, written test,
practice driving hours and road test, it takes pretty much six months
of consistent commitment to finally hold that long-awaited card in
your hands. If you are good and lucky enough not to fail any of the
steps mentioned before.

Here,
in Florida, it took me a morning. By lunchtime I was able to drive
around. Now, I’m not saying that it was extremely easy or that I
didn’t make an effort to deserve my colorful
Florida
driver license, but let me say that it was pretty quick.

I
think that the drivers ed must be a fundamental principle.
And in order to be one, it requires a lot of time, a lot of
dedication and a lot of attention. The
american
process
is
lacking at least one of these three, for what I personally
experienced.

Education
equals consciousness. Education equals awareness. Education equals
mindfulness. These things need time and attention to be realized and
put in practice, these aren’t things that can be learned down the
road. Literally.

Consciousness,
awareness, mindfulness should be essential before sitting down in the
driver’s seat. Solid education can reduce the number of deaths
caused by driving, a solid conscious-aware-mindful education. I’m
quite sure that a little more time spent on the handbook and behind
the wheel next to a more experienced driver could make a significant
difference. Just like revising the rules from time to time, for the
purpose of clarifying any doubts that could occur.

Once,
I was involved into a car accident. It was a regular week day and I
was coming back home from school, I was not driving, I was just
sitting in the back listening to the radio. I even remember the song
that was playing: “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The car
I was on was not moving, because the car in front of it was about to
make a turn. And right when that car made that turn, the car I was on
got hit from behind. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but everybody got
scared.

“I
didn’t realize the car was not moving, I didn’t see it there, I
was getting too close and I didn’t know how to react, what to do”
was what the teenager who caused the crash said. That happened
because he
wasn’t
driving safely,
he wasn’t paying attention to the road and he never experienced
that situation before. He was probably not ready to be driving on his
own, he looked sorry of course and I understand that it was an
accident, but maybe if he had more experience driving, he would’ve
known that something was not right with his speed and the distance
that was separating the two cars, maybe.