The Driving School Dilemma

I have grown to be very particular about who I allow to drive me places. Now I feel like I’m fair because I always give someone a chance. I also give grace given the fact that I know no one is a perfect driver, even myself. However, what I will not do is allow someone to kill me on the road because they drive like a maniac and don’t value my life when I’m in the car with them.

So although in most cases I am the designated driver 90% of the time I am journeying anywhere with anybody, there are still circumstances in which I am forced to be a passenger prince, next to one of my lovely family members, and safe to say, some of them take bad driving to a personal level.

So far out of all of the people in my family, only one person has actually gone to driving school. That would be my little cousin Kingston, who just so happens to be the least experienced driver in the family. And even though some of my family members have nearly DOUBLE the driving experience he has, he still drives far better than them.

With all that said I will use this opportunity to compare how Kingston drives as a successful graduate of driving school, and how many of my other family members drive as if they are blissfully unaware of the fact that they are operating a MOVING VEHICLE.

The first detail the Kingston exemplifies well while driving, is keeping his eyes on the road. When driving with Kingston I never have to worry about him falling victim to any types of distractions while behind the wheel. His gaze remains on the road and his mirrors, and gives driving his full attention. Now my older sister and cousin who are both approaching 21 years old (as opposed to Kingston who isn’t even 17) both fail to remove distractions when on the road. For example, in a very traumatic afternoon driving with my big sister, I observed as she nearly caused an accident at a red light. While me and the rest of the passengers in the vessel very explicitly observed the red light and the vehicles stopping previous to it, my sister WHO WAS DRIVING failed to do so. As a began to recognize the fact that my sister was failing to employ her brakes and conquer the momentum of the driving instrument, I observed how the operator of the car was LOOKING OUTSIDE THE DRIVER SIDE WINDOW with absolutely no knowledge of the status of the traffic in front of her. Now this is where I will place a share of the blame on myself because I failed to collect my sister’s attention, as I was busy sending my final prayers up to the Lord above and writing my final Will and Testament. This was my first example of how driver’s education may be something that more people take advantage of, and Kingston’s prowess handling himself on the road as a graduate of one of their programs represents the value of what they do.

Now I do believe that there are a fair share of teens who are very safe when driving, I do think that there are a very healthy share who need some work when it comes to safe driving. My own experience getting hit in my own high school parking lot is an example of that. Long story short a young lady failed to yield when entering the main road of the parking lot. I have not included this segment as an opportunity to bash her, but after hitting my vehicle she apologized saying “I’m sorry I didn’t see you, you were in my blind spot…” While that would have been a valid explanation in most cases, in this specific situation, it didn’t make sense, given the fact that I was in front of her. Now unless the 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier has a mysterious blind spot in the front windshield, it is unlikely that the blind spot was the reason why she didn’t see my 2010 NISSAN ARMADA which is almost considered a bus in roughly 17 states and the island of Jamaica. The more likely answer for her failure to yield was some sort of distraction or miseducation in the importance of checking the main roadway before proceeding into traffic. This is where the problem is in the issue of teen driving.

I believe that driver’s education should be more aggressively promoted in society. Now it is important it remains affordable, but it is integral that we don’t allow bad drivers to teach their teens how to be worse drivers. Now affordability is a major factor in this as it is hard to further encourage the inclusion of driver’s education courses, if it is going to cause families significant financial burdens. Now with that said, many schools, including my own high school, provide driver’s education courses as part of the curriculum, and as far as I am aware, it is free to enroll in that course.

Teen driving safety is a conversation that needs to be had as it is important to keep our streets safe. Fortunately, further inclusion of driver’s education is very attainable.