Drivers Ed, not Driver’s Right

Drivers ed, not Driver’s Right

With so many people 16 or older getting licenses, and the limited requirements to do so, the number of driving-related deaths has skyrocketed in the past years. Being a person with a license, I only had to do a few turns and park to get this, not test my knowledge or experience of being a driver on a tangent road or highway. To get this ability to legally drive on a road, one should be prepared for actual driving on actual roads surrounded by actual people in actual cars. One of the reasons for the increased deaths is due to the overconfidence of teen drivers. These deaths could easily be avoided if we test the people trying to get licenses more rigorously. This would accurately convey their level of driving knowledge and experience enough to determine if they are ready to go out into the world.

Deaths are not exclusively due to a lack of experience. I had over 150 documented driving hours before I got my driver’s license. And even with that experience I still managed to get into a car accident. This did not happen because I was on my phone, I make it a point to never look at my phone when I’m driving because of things similar to this. This happened because I was simply tired. While in my Junior year of high school, I was participating in my school’s extracurricular theatre program, which was an additional 6 hours after a regular 7-hour school day. I was simultaneously taking a dual enrollment American Sign Language Class at a college about an hour away from my high school.

That week – in theatre – we were working particularly hard in preparation for a show. That work, along with homework for regular classes, took a toll on my mental health and the amount of sleep I was getting. One day I was driving to my college ASL class when I started to feel a little tired. I recognized this and decided the best course of action to take would be to put on the AC, roll down the window, and put on music I like and could sing along to. This didn’t stop me from closing my eyes for 1 second, long enough for me to rear-end another vehicle. In hindsight, I should have pulled over for 5 minutes and rested my eyes; however, I didn’t have that benefit at that time.

After that experience, I vowed anytime I was in the driver’s seat, I would pull over if I felt tired, and I would always be actively focusing on the road in front of me.