Careful Driver

Teen driver safety is obviously a public issue as its frequency is too high for how many drivers there are among the younger generation. The younger generation is the future of the nation, so we need to guide them as much as possible, so that they can safely change the future for the better. While school teaches them important pieces of knowledge and values, driving is sometimes the moment when they hold something of immense value, their life and everyone else’s on the road. Therefore, it is essential for the generation that came before them to educate the future generation with the carefulness that is required by driving.

What we need to teach the upcoming generation is not how to become better drivers, but in a sense it is. They do not lack the experience or the skills necessary to drive, but they need to learn to be able to function without distractions that inhibit them from performing at their best. Specifically, teenagers are always either listening to music or changing music or texting even while driving. They adapt to these habits as a result of becoming so great at driving that they let their guard down and get hurt. The problem is obvious, but the solution is much more difficult as teenagers growing to become adults will do things despite being told not to. That is why I believe that a gentle and encouraging method is more effective than a stern delivery focusing on the importance of driving. The solution is to involve the parents by having them encourage their children with something like “Drive safe” or “Be careful”. It shows someone cares and develops a closer family connection which cannot hurt.

From my experience, messages alert teenagers like me in a loud manner while I am driving so, I want to check, and I lose focus. For me personally, I only check them while I am at a red light, but that is still a problem because it has inhibited the drivers behind me from driving before when it turned green without me noticing. There are also cases where teenagers are impatient enough to glance at their screen while driving and a glance is all it takes to end someone’s life on the road. Something that might be more relatable is listening to music and trying to change the song while driving. The light suddenly turns red and now you have to slowly speed up while trying to skip the current song or select the next song. I have certainly been in this predicament, and I would advise a phone holder at least for both of these issues. It allows them to watch the road and their phone at the same time, but it would be best if they learned the danger is not worth the risk.

If either of these bad habits occurred during my most dangerous time driving, I would probably be very injured right now. Around a month ago, I was driving to my internship while worrying about if I was going to make it there on time, but it suddenly became dangerous out of nowhere. The light turned green and me and the driver next to me drove under the highway. It seemed perfectly normal, but thankfully I was a little extra cautious in this moment because I couldn’t see the white lines separating the lanes. They began to drive closer and closer to my car without signaling. My instincts kicked in and I managed to hit the break in time to allow them in front of me. I cannot imagine what my internship or family would have thought if they heard that I was severely injured because I was texting someone or changing a song because I thought it was bad.

As a driver and as a human being, I have learned that there will always be people that rush through things and not think things through, but we as a community are still able to minimize situations of other people by being more responsible ourselves. Of course, these problems apply everywhere in the world, so it is important that we teach teenagers this lesson before they become full-fledged adults and start doing work. What I hope teenagers retain from this is to look left, right and forward instead of down. For the rest of the community, we should remind these teenagers on our roads that they are important and that even if they are a little late or are a little uncomfortable, it is fine as long as they are safe.