Family Game Night & The Rules of the Road

What is the importance of driver education in reducing the number deaths as a result of driving?

Monopoly. Uno. Scrabble. Family game night is a tradition in my family. We love to play board games together. Sometimes the competition can get a bit heated (mainly, my dad, who can be a bit competitive). When an argument breaks out, it’s often due to a dispute concerning the game’s rules. One person believes they can make a particular move while another cries foul. They go back and forth about who is right. The bickering goes on forever until (usually, my level-headed mom) grabs the rule book for clarification and to set everyone straight.

The hilarity of an argument during a family game night is one thing; a disagreement or misunderstanding concerning the rules of the road has more significant stakes. Fender benders, accidents, and even death can occur when someone behind the wheel of a car ignores the rules, misunderstands them, or possesses a different interpretation of them than those around them. When you consider this, driver’s education is more important than we realize.

Take, for instance, roundabouts. For whatever reason, the town I live in loves them and has placed them all over. However, navigating through these roundabouts is a test of patience and an act of courage. No one seems to know who has the right of way when entering the circle. Some folks are tentative, very few yield, and others plow on through. Finally, the impatient drivers beep their horns and get angry. We’re all playing the same game (driving), but it seems like everyone has a different interpretation of the rules.

For the holidays, we recently drove from North Carolina to Western Maryland to visit my grandparents, taking the I-95 highway most of the way. People were darting in and out of traffic, speeding while switching lanes, prohibiting others from merging, ignoring road work signs. In that short trip, I saw it all. People were playing the same game (driving), but it was evident that many were playing by their own rules. So it is no wonder that on a few occasions, we encountered standstill traffic. The culprit were accidents that could’ve been avoided if everyone had abided by the same rules. Sadly, one of the wrecks was tragic. Cars, or what remained of them, piled up. With the ambulances tending to those who were hurt, it was apparent that the wreck altered someone’s life forever.

Being a young driver, I’ve come to understand that just because someone has a license doesn’t mean they know the in’s and out’s and rules and driving regulations. I remember being in driver’s education, trying to process all the information they threw at me – road signs, parallel parking, changing lanes, three-point turns, merging to incoming traffic, etc. For a month straight, I spent countless evenings studying the driving manual, preparing for my learner’s permit. I read it from cover to cover, backward and forward. It was overwhelming, but I passed the written test and, later on, the road test.

Do you know how many times I’ve picked up that driver’s manual since I received my license? ZERO. This isn’t to brag or boast that I’m an ideal driver (just ask my father), and I understand every detail contained within it. On the contrary, it’s the exact opposite. Teenagers like me get those keys in their hands and enjoy the freedom it brings. But, unfortunately, the further we get from driver’s education, the more we believe we “know” how to drive, and that’s the end of our driver’s education. All that information we jammed in our heads slowly dissipates or gets reinterpreted.

Years go by, and because we have countless hours behind the wheel, our way of driving is the “right” way, or at least we think. While studying for my learner’s permit, I’d sometimes quiz my mom and dad on questions that would likely appear on the test. On a few of them, they’d draw a blank or debate between answers. They were both playing the same game (driving) but had a different interpretation of the rules or, over time, forgot them.

Driver’s education for teenagers gives us a good base; it’s made me feel competent while in the driver’s seat. But, perhaps that education needs to continue, so we keep the road rules before us over time. We must never stop learning and always consider ourselves a student. The roads are safe and enjoyable for everybody when each person is playing by the same rules.