Safety by Demonstration, Our Most Important Approach

It is hard to deny that somebody’s guardians are the most impactful figures in their lives. From the youngest age, we are taught by our parents or caretakers how to dress, eat, play, and interact with our peers. Once we step into the world of social interactions, we are then informed by our friends and loved ones in a comparable way to our parents. Human beings are defined and molded by the influences in their society, and this is no different in the world of driving. Our parents, our older siblings, our friends, every single role model in our life informs us on how we should drive, with impressions being made when we are just little kids. I remember all sorts of different experiences while riding in the car, ranging from my mom’s cautious turn signals being turned on four blocks too early to my aunt’s radio blasting Britney Spears out of the window.

Our role models are the most substantial figures in learning to drive. Our formal instructors can teach us laws from the book inside of their classroom, and they can give feedback whenever we sit behind their driver’s wheel, but it is the habits of those we look up to that we will adopt, and will influence us the most as drivers. Multiple studies have shown that when children and teens see their parents drinking, acting aggressively, or becoming distracted behind the wheel, they are much more likely for them to emulate these behaviors later. I have even seen this point myself; I have been in the car with both my friend and my friend’s parent behind the wheel, and I discovered that both shared similar reckless tendencies while driving. If my friend’s parents had set a better precedent for their driving, it is much more likely my friend would be a more responsible driver. Therefore, I passionately believe that our parents should be the first steps in educating student drivers.

How should we shift this focus into the active education of students, then? My suggestion is that guardians be brought into special classes before their child’s own education again, giving parents an in-person guide to improving their own habits. This should prove as an effective strategy to make parents more involved in their child’s learning about driving and give parents a better guide for how they should go about instructing at home. While my mother went through a parent-instructor meeting before my drivers ed began, she still had some confusion over how to best teach me. Having the in-person classes would have given my mom a better idea of how to support me, and that in turn would strengthen my overall confidence in my driving.

It is also vital that parents are informed on the new statistics just as much as current students are. While dangers while driving have always been a part of being on the road, our culture these days might have different statistics or distractors than our parents did. For example, the statistics for deaths caused by distractions with cell phones are much higher on the road today than for my mother, simply because our society has grown closer with cell phones and more people are likely to own one. Making certain our role models for driving are up to date with our current world situation is vital for them to guide us. With their insight on modern problems in mind, their demonstration of driving while we are in the car can become more applicable.

Of course, this concept of modeling safe driving should not be applied to our parents alone. As us teenagers grow older, and become figures of example for our younger siblings, cousins, peers, and so on, it is important that we also show the same level of example. We are as accountable to be demonstrators of good practice on the road as our parents are, and we must give the same amount of care as adults, so that we can truly reduce the risk of death on the road.