Seeing is believing

Driver Education can help reduce deaths by showing kids what their choices can cause to happen. Kids usually see the fun part of driving, not the safe and boring parts. Sometimes choices lead to good things like driving slow enough so when an animal like a dog runs out into the street they have time to stop. Sometimes choices lead to bad things like when drivers are going too fast because they think it is fun and they don’t have enough time to stop before they hit something or lose control of the car. We always hear about drinking and driving or texting and driving but I think there are a lot more dangerous things that happen too. A lot of it is just people not paying attention to what other drivers are doing. Or thinking they can control their car but when unexpected things happen like animals or kinds playing they can’t react fast enough.

Young drivers need to see what can happen or hear from kids their own age from their own experiences. We can sit in class for hours and read websites with statistics but that doesn’t make kids change their choices. The streaming shows make fast driving with friends in the car seem like fun. We see so many shows with adults driving fast, and they make it sound and look like it is something we can do and nothing bad will happen. If we heard from kids or young drivers that are hurt forever or scared forever from what happened to them then those stories may stick. Not just hearing from families of people who died, but people who lived and their lives are changed forever.

I have not been in an accident but my mom has. She drives like an old lady so I don’t think the accidents were ever her fault. Usually it’s people being impatient and thinking they are more important than other people so they make selfish choices. Like someone at a stop sign who thinks they don’t need to wait their turn, or a one lane bridge near our house where people tailgate and rush through. I also see a lot of older people driving while they smoke or drink coffee. They might not have a phone in their hand but that seems just as dangerous as a phone. I have seen drivers get pressured to drive faster or more aggressively to save time. Its hard not to give in to peer pressure when you are late and people are saying to go faster or go around someone or make a turn where you can’t really see around the corner.

I am lucky that none of my friends have been in car accidents. But when I tell my mom about the stuff that happens in the car she keeps telling me that bad things can happen and we have just been lucky so far. Some of my friends don’t seem too worried because they say they drive newer cars with a lot of safety features, but the cocky kids will not be lucky for long. Some of the kids drive too fast, or race each other because they thing if they crash their car will protect them. I don’t want bad things to happen but it seems like until we see an accident then it is not real.

Young drivers really need to hear from other young drivers who have had close calls, may be in a video like Tik Tok, and see the panic on their face. If we could start a social media sight and have kids anonymously share close calls without getting in trouble, I think that might change some kids minds. If people talked about the little things they did that were not too smart. The kind of things people do every day to save time to get somewhere faster. There are a lot of things people can share where 99% of the time it was fine but that 1% changed everything. We also need to know it is ok to be late sometimes. And that driving safely will not ne punished but seen as doing the right thing. I don’t want bad things to happen to my friends. We feel like we are young and drive safe cars so we are protected. It would be good if we heard stories from kids like us, doing things like us where sometimes things don’t turn out well. That is what would make young drivers slow down and make better choices.