Age and Wisdom

I’m a 54-year-old mother of two adult children. I’ve been driving safely for 37 years and have taught multiple children to drive, including my own. I laugh now, but I had to teach my children first, that a real car was not like driving in the game Mario Kart! I remember my daughter going way to fast around the first corner, and we had another lesson on braking. I’m glad that learning how to drive a real vehicle was much easier to master than driving a virtual one. My father was a truck driver and taught us so much growing up. I used to ride in his semi and learned how to respect truckers on the road. My children had the same learning opportunity with their Papa and learned a lot of valuable lessons. There are so many drivers that don’t respect the fact that trucks need a lot of space to stop. This respect followed us into driving our cars. We leave space between our car and the car ahead of us. We make sure to watch my mirrors to know where the other vehicles are on the highways and roads. This knowledge came from a perspective that most people don’t have, from a seat in a semi with an experienced driver.

There are so many safety concerns with driving and making sure to teach our youth is very important, especially in this age of cell phones. Parents need to ensure that the driver education program they enroll their children in, is comprehensive. Driver education programs must teach not only how to operate a car safely on the road, but the safety risks associated with driving.

Children often learn by example, so not only do we need to ensure that our children are safe drivers, but we need to model safe driving. Following traffic laws, respecting other vehicles on the road and avoiding cell phone usage are all great examples to set for our children. Teaching children the hazards associated with wet or icy roads and ensuring that they understand the safety risks. I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where we have snow for at least 6 months of the year. I was taught to learn how to control your car on ice and snow. I passed that knowledge on to my children, by practicing in an icy parking lot. Slamming on the brakes, doing donuts in the car and steering quickly (all at a slow, safe speed) so that they would know how their car reacts to differing conditions.

Michigan has taken some steps to reduce the number of deaths related to driving. Not only is there a nationwide seatbelt law, but it is also now illegal to be on a cell phone while driving. Thankfully, most newer cars can connect to our cell phones, so we can use them hands free.

I have never been in an accident, thankfully, but my daughter was in high school. Her friend disobeyed the laws of driving with a permit, and it resulted in an accident, as well as him not being able to receive his license until he was 18 years old. I hadn’t thought at the time, to begin teaching my daughter of the rules of driving, especially with a permit. She was only 14 at the time and didn’t understand that she should not have gotten in the car with him. Also, my son’s best friend was killed on his way home from their senior year homecoming dance, by a drunk driver. So now my family volunteers to have friends contact me if they are drinking, to provide them with a safe, sober ride home. Drunk driving is one of the easiest mistakes to avoid, if you are responsible.

I consider myself a safe driver. I keep both hands on the wheel, check my mirrors, follow all traffic laws, wear my seatbelt and never drive under the influence of any substances. I keep up on my vehicle’s maintenance, make sure there is space between my vehicle and others and always know the conditions of the roads. I think helping others to be safe drivers involves passing on knowledge and experience to the younger generation. Telling stories of personal experiences and sharing things we have learned after all these years of driving, will help others to be safe drivers too. I honestly can’t wait to become a grandmother one day and have to ability to teach my grandchildren the value in safe driving. And witness my children be great role models as well.