The Lack of Experience and Training

The importance of driver education, both theoretical and practical, cannot be denied. With 233 million people in the United States alone, people need to have a standard for driving. In California, if you are under 16, after passing a driver’s ed course, you can apply for your learner’s permit by taking a test at the DMV. You must have your learner’s permit for 6 months. During this time, you must complete 50 hours of driving with a licensed driver over the age of 25, 10 of which have to be at night. If you can prove all of this, you can go for your DMV behind-the-wheel test. If you’re over 18, then it’s easier. Just pass the behind-the-wheel test and say you practiced with another 18-year-old driver. Do you see the difference between what a 16-year-old vs an 18-year-old have to do to get their licenses? Because of the difference of 2 years of age, you can do less work for your license. There is no theory or reading test on the state driving handbook, 50 hours of driving, or driving course for the 18-year-old. This massive amount of learning and experience goes down the drain. It shows when the newly minted 18-year-old driver gets behind the wheel compared to the newly minted 16-year-old driver who has recorded hours driven, a driving course completed, and two DMV tests under their belt. Who would you rather be on the road?

There are multiple things that the driver handbook and class do not teach us. It doesn’t handle all the situations that can come up. And it is ridiculously hard to remember everything in the handbook unless you have a perfect memory. It doesn’t account for other people or all the different weather conditions. It doesn’t teach practical skills or defensive driving. But you know what does?

Experience.

As you drive more miles, you gain more experience. Different situations come up. Your car can break down, another vehicle could be doing something reckless. Once I was in my 2010 Chevy Equinox, and I was driving to school. I had been going 55 miles an hour down a back road when my car suddenly lost power and forced my car’s speed to 35 miles an hour max. It scared me. Luckily, no one had been behind as I had no warning before that happened. I’ve had people almost rear-end me because they weren’t paying attention. I’ve had people slam on their brakes in front and I had to go off the road in order not to crash into them. Those experiences have shaped the way I dirve

But experience comes in all shapes and forms. I came from a small town, and the biggest city around that I went to was Roseville. Moving to a city like Reno was a noticeable change for me. The number of people on the roads alone was quite different. The amount of people cutting me off and not letting me over into another lane was insane for me. They took so many risks that I would not take, it was almost a culture shock. Now, yes, going from a small town to a big city is technically already a culture shock, but that is not the point. Experience is the best teacher one can have. You make your own mistakes, and you learn. Hopefully one of those things is defensive driving.

 No one teaches defensive driving. No one teaches us how to control our vehicles if we have to go off-road. When it is better to get out of the way or when hit or be hit. Pro tip: don’t serve around the animals. Just hit them. As cruel as it sounds just hit them. Our parents don’t always teach us the proper things to do while driving on the road. They often have different and conflicting ways of driving. My parents are polar opposites in their driving despite both of them driving F-150s. I tell them to decide on a way of driving until then I’m following my dad’s way. No one tells us if you go off the road into a ditch, you are extremely likely to get out of it in a body bag.

We are not taught how to be respectful of semi-trucks on the road. They have huge blind spots and can only go so fast. Fully loaded, they weigh 80,000 pounds. 80,000 pounds. A 4-door F-150 weighs 6,500 to 7,000 depending on the make and model. Your average car according to Google is only 4,100 pounds. That’s almost 20 times your car’s weight. Do you think if you rear-end it, the truck driver will notice? Let me tell you, 8 out of 10 times, the driver will probably not notice. If you slam on your brakes, are they going to stop immediately? NO! They are carrying massive amounts of weight, and you want to play duck, duck, goose with them? Not a good idea. There is a very good chance they will just run you over. They can’t stop in time. What else are they going to do?

The same thing with trailers. Be nice to people towing trailers. It’s not that hard. They can’t stop as fast as you. They can’t see you half the time since you hang out right in their blind spots. They can be towing thousands of pounds. Do not tailgate them!

Here are steps to be a safe driver: be smart about your driving, don’t be irresponsible, be very nice to the people with heavier vehicles than you, pay attention to the road (your life is not worth your TikTok), and finally don’t do to other people what you wouldn’t want them doing to you.