In the Blink of an Eye

In the Blink of an Eye

Nicolas Viulet

Anyone that has ever lived at some point has contemplated why and how they even exist and even if you haven’t this will happen at some point. These thoughts are more likely to occur as we grow and begin to understand the world around us. When we’re young life seems so easy and exciting but as we grow life becomes ever more complex: in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, we are stressed, anxious, sad looking for a way out; everyone at some point has felt these emotions, and they can play a big role in one’s life. Our teenage years are often unstable we feel lost and try to suppress these feeling with the false idea that we our invincible and life will never end yet this can all change in the blink of an eye. Driving is one of the most pivotal skills teens learn, and is becoming ever more important as teens travel more often for responsibilities such as jobs, school, and extracurricular activities. Driving is also a dangerous task for those that are not careful, awareness and safety are key in safe driving and creating a comfortable environment for yourself and others you may wish to drive. Many teens recognize this, still we are the primary culprits of reckless driving: but why? I believe it comes down to experience, when we are young, we simply lack the experience to be good drivers, at the beginning we may not realize it but it is very easy to be cocky and believe you know how to drive when in reality you don’t. In drivers training we learn the basics and start of by driving with an instructor but, after we pass segment one many of us forget what we learned and rely on what we can remember and occasionally our parents to fill in the gaps. On top of that, in Michigan, where I live, only 40 hours are required to take segment two and 50 for the road test; this leaves room for many mistakes and poor drivers being allowed to drive on their own. I believe one way to reduce the number of deaths for teen drivers is to increase the number of hours required to take the road test. In addition to increasing the time for the road test I believe that there needs to be a better system to hold drivers accountable for their hours. The current self-reporting system allows for people to lie about their hours, which is a big problem because the road-test is relatively simple to pass and will allow for extremely inexperienced drivers to be on the road. Along with these more obvious practical changes, there can be some more subtle changes to drivers training that will help teens understand the risk they are taking on each and every time that they drive. I know from my personal experience that at first, I did not take driving seriously until I started realizing just how dangerous it could be. In drivers training simply doing worksheets and passing the final test didn’t allow me to realize how important emotional state and concentration are for driving safely. With the implementation of these measures, I believe that teen drivers will be able to understand just how important their emotional state is for driving safely. On top of that with more experience, teens will be able to drive more safely and effectively.