Young Driver Safety

Young Driver Safety

After taking my last final on a Tuesday morning, all I wanted to do was go home and relax. It had been a hard and stressful semester and I was one plane ride away from cozying up in the warmth of my own bed. After boarding the plane my parents picked me up from the airport, and we drove home. This was the same routine as any other time I had come home. Except it was a little different. We pulled into our driveway and my dad got out of the car. I looked out the window and saw the trees shift away out of the corner of my eye. I assumed it was the rollback every car does before it comes to a complete stop, but the trees kept moving, and I realized the car was rolling backwards down the incline of our driveway. The car was in reverse. Immediately my adrenaline kicked in and I jumped into the driver’s seat and put the car in park. A sigh of relief once the car was completely still broke the silence.

I bring this story up because my dad is a good driver. He has had over thirty five years of experience, and we were moving relatively slowly before I jumped in. If my dad could make such a silly mistake, what about all the 16 year olds speeding down the highway?

The first time we drive is a terrifying experience. We cling to the steering wheel scared to lift our foot off the break. Slowly, as we become more experienced, the fear fades away. You become more comfortable with driving and build yourself up from empty parking lots to driving in a crowded city. However, the danger never really goes away. At its core, when you turn on the ignition, you are opening yourself up to control a hunk of metal that weighs a few thousands pounds while hundreds of other heavy metal squares shoot past you. When you say it like that, driving sounds as scary as it did when you first put your foot on the gas. I believe that this perspective is the key in safe driving. I constantly remind myself how dangerous driving really is in an effort to stay as safe as possible. During drivers education, this idea should be emphasized. So many young drivers are so excited to get their license, they do not register the dangers that come along with driving.

The United States engaged in the Korean War for just over three years and totaled more than 33 thousand combat deaths. In comparison, between the three year period from the start of 2005 to the end of 2007, there were around 127 thousand deaths due to highway fatalities in the US. My grandfather was drafted in the Korean War when he was in his 20’s. The fact that he was four times more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident in the 2000’s than become a soldier and fight in battle during the Korean War is astonishing. How is it possible that driving can be more fatal than war? What can we do to decrease driver deaths?

In terms of education, the best type of drivers education would teach the basic skills and rules needed to drive, but stresses the danger behind driving. Sharing stories of real people who were in fatal crashes or got severely injured would help young drivers understand how dangerous driving truly is and bring them back into the reality of the perils of driving. Other themes in

drivers education that need attention are the use of technology, or doing any other activity while driving, and road rage. While technology can be a great tool as a GPS, using a phone while behind the wheel is extremely distracting. It not only takes your eyes away from the road, but it also takes your focus away. While driving you are always one wrong movement away from a fatal accident. Similarly, road rage causes drivers to act more recklessly increasing the chances of an accident. While aggression extends beyond driving, learning how to deescalate a road rage situation is important in avoiding preventable accidents.

I think when instigating change, we have to focus on young drivers. They are the ones who are still learning their way around the wheel and do not yet have strong driving habits. The youth is also a different generation than ever before. They are responsive to social media and pop culture, unlike past generations. A unique but effective approach to safe driving would be for celebrity ambassadors to remind and persuade young drivers to be safe. All other facets of advertisement utilize this approach, why should driver’s education be any different? A fifteen year old seeing the person they admire put their phone on Do Not Disturb while driving is the most effective way to reduce driver related deaths, specifically among young drivers.