In The Driver’s Seat

Looking back at my childhood, there are a couple of major milestones I remember anxiously awaiting to reach. One was becoming a teenager, another was entering high school, but the one milestone that I couldn’t wait for was being able to be in the driver’s seat of a car. Little did I know, while the other milestones were effortless, this milestone would take the most amount of work and time to accomplish. At first, I thought I just needed to show up to get my drivers permit, but it was so much more complicated than that. There were mainly two phases a new driver must complete in order to be able to drive on the road by themselves. Going through these phases increased the seriousness of being able to drive a car on the road and heightened the amount of awareness I currently have when I am in the driver’s seat.

In the first phase in Texas, a teenager must first apply for a learner license which is a beginner license that allows you to practice driving with a licensed adult before getting the actual driver’s license. A pre-requisite to getting your learner license is completing the first six hours of the driver education instructional. Once you submit proof of completing your instruction portion, fill out a stack of paperwork and complete eye exams, you may obtain your learner’s license, in which you must hold for six months prior to applying for the real license. During the second phase of obtaining a license, I drove around with my parents in the car as they taught me the fundamentals and important aspects of driving. At first the driving was done in parking lots and quiet roads in newly developed neighborhoods. As I mastered how to control the car in a quiet environment, I graduated to driving on the road. I immediately would tense up because there were other cars on the road that I had to be aware of. I had to be alert when driving, paying attention to multiple things at the same time, signs, lights, flow of traffic, etc. It wasn’t hard at first, because my mom verbally told me things to be looking for and gave me verbal instructions when driving. But as I was on the road more, the instructions stopped, and I made my own driving decisions to get to my destination. Driving was not as fun as I thought it was. It takes focus. It takes knowing the rules of the road, which is where the remaining 32 hours of online classroom instruction came in. I personally had to finish the classroom instructions before I was put into real traffic, which was important because I did at least understand the rules of the road. There are many rules the everyone needs to be aware of. If you don’t know the rules of the road, you could cause harm to others or a life could be lost, which is what makes driving a serious matter.

After completing phase two, I was able to pass my official driving test, obtain my license, and could officially be in the driver’s seat. Part of the three main restrictions of my new license: I am not able to drive with more than one passenger in the car under the age of 21, I am not allowed to drive a motor vehicle between midnight and 5am, and I am restricted from using wireless communication devices, unless in an emergency. I understand the restrictions, but after being an active driver with other friends, who also drive, I understand the importance of these rules. As part of our classroom instruction, we learned the consequences of bad driving. The major reasons for teen crashes are lack of experience, distractions, speeding, weekend and night driving, and not properly using their seat belts. After realizing teen drivers have triple fatal crashes than older drivers, I do everything in my power to adhere to the driving rules on the road so I can avoid the major reasons of crashes when I am in the driver’s seat.

My middle name is Chanelle, and it’s important because my mom lost her best friend named Chanelle in a car accident when they were teenagers. Chanelle was forced off the road when another car came over in her lane. She was ejected from the car and died instantly. My mom said hindsight, if Chanelle wasn’t speeding and had her seat belt on, her story could have been different. The one thing my mom always tells me when I leave to go places is to drive safely. I have not been in any major accidents, but I was involved in a small fender bender. I considered myself a safe driver, but after slightly hitting a car in the rear about two months after receiving my license, I realized I was not as safe of a driver as I thought when in the driver’s seat. I didn’t have any outside distractions, but I realized I was thinking about other things and wasn’t as focused as I should have been. When the lady came to a quick stop, I was too close to her to have time to respond and properly stop. After being on the road for almost a full year by myself, and having friends who are also driving, the importance of safe driving is extremely important to me. I have had friends in minor accidents, but some of these could have been avoided if distractions were removed. I have seen classmates drive faster than they should to impress others. Don’t they realize the consequences of such reckless actions when they are in the driver’s seat?

The three main categories that teen accidents fall into are left-hand turns, rear-end accidents, and running off the road. In order to reduce the number of teenage accidents and deaths, I feel if teens adhere to the below important rules, it will increase their chance of avoiding accidents by being safer drivers when they are in the driver’s seat.

1. Teenagers should take a Driver’s education class prior to becoming a legal driver. This class allows students to learn the details behind the driving process. This class provides instruction on how to be a safe driver and the rules on the road. In addition to the class, I also recommend a new driver take an actual driving class from a certified instructor. They have a way and relaying important details about learning how to drive. Parents may sometime forget these details or have a hard time of explaining the processes. Because this class go over the specific rules of driving and the regulations for one’s state, most insurance companies provide a discounted rate with the completion of this course.

2. Teenagers should avoid distracted driving. Teenagers today have more ways to get distracted in the car than perhaps our parents did in the past. The main distraction that causes accidents is the use of the cell phone. Drivers should refrain from using their phones to text, talk on, email, and take pictures/videos while driving a vehicle. Another distraction in the car is friends. Too much extra activity in the car, including loud music, can take the driver attention from the road. The risk of an accident double when teens have one passenger in the car versus driving by themself. The risk of a crash triples with two or more drivers in the car. In order to avoid being distracted, new drivers should drive alone, when possible, but if traveling with friends, limit the number of friends in the car, as the regulations are set in Texas, to one. This reduces the driver’s chance of being distracted, especially when the passenger is just as safety conscious as the driver. Peer pressure from friends in the car also play a major role in distracted drivers and increase the chance of a traffic accident by 15%.

3. Teenagers should avoid reckless and intoxicated driving. One would think that since the legal drinking age in most states is 21, there wouldn’t be any teenage accidents as a result of intoxication, but there are. Teenagers should also avoid taking medicine that makes them sleepy or groggy, in order to keep their focus sharpened when on the road. If one must take medicine that cause them to be drowsy, they must refrain from driving until the effects of the medicine have worn off.

If teenagers, as myself and my friends, follow the above guidelines for safe driving, we all could decrease the number of teenage accidents. Statistics show that approximately six teenagers a day die in the US due to teen car accidents. We all need to take an oath to ourselves, family and friends that we will adhere to the above guidelines to be safe drivers on the road. Taking a driver’s education course, having proper driving training, and avoiding distracted and reckless driving could play a major role in avoiding accidents and keeping everyone safe on the road. We all must do our part, because we are ultimately only in control of our own actions. Accidents can happen at any time to anyone, but if we pledge that we will do all that we can to be safe drivers on the road, we will play a major role in reducing accidents and the overall death count of my peers while in the driver’s seat.