Drivers Education: Best Possible Position

Speed. I am Speed. Well, that’s what Lightning McQueen told us growing up, float light a cadillac, sting like a beamer. That’s what we all wanted as kids, to go fast whether that be running fast, playing fast, but the thing we wanted to be the fastest at was getting the one thing that would hand us our freedom: a driver’s license. Getting that little card was going to change your life forever and in unfortunate cases, not for the better and for the much worse. Learning to drive was never high on the priority list for me personally, especially when my father told me, “You have to expect people to do the dumbest things so then, you can be prepared for them.” From that point on, hearing the garage door open was not a regular occurrence, all of a sudden it led to questions, “where are they going?”, “are they going to make it back?”. All of a sudden, hearing my best friend is going to drive around with her boyfriend who regularly drives 100 mph was a concerning statement. Driver’s education nowadays is not usually a class, it is done online by 14 year olds with glassy eyes and the information going in one ear and out the other, just to get their key to freedom a mere six months later.

Psychologically, it is not possible to multitask, your brain is not hardwired to focus simultaneously on two things at once; however when a teenager is 16 they think they can do anything and more without a second thought. The result of this being the 29,999 car accidents in 2020 that were caused because of someone texting and driving along with the 400 deaths that were recorded in 2022.. Modern day phone usage is at a 4.5 hour per day usage by the average person, and with bluetooth connections in vehicles along with the hands-free options in newer vehicles there is a more likely chance of phone usage whilst driving. In 24 states across the U.S along with the District of Columbia have a ban on using handheld devices at any point they are behind the wheel, in Oregon and Washington the monthly crash rates dropped incredibly per 100,000 people. The importance of this information is it should be included in driver’s education. Studies have shown that fear produces double the probability of change, therefore showing the effects of texting while driving, drinking while driving would hypothetically aid in the drop of phone usage while driving.

Being prepared while driving is a large part of staying safe and avoiding accidents. In 2021, my little sister was driving us home from a basketball game and she had just gotten her license a few months before, it had started snowing before we left and if I could do it over again I would have said, “Give me the keys, I’m driving home.” We hit black ice and rear-ended the car in front of us, luckily it was more of a love tap than an accident however, insurance did have to get involved and there was damage to both vehicles. Once everything was squared away, I got in the driver’s seat and started driving and I will say I was heated because the car she drove was my first car and I loved that thing, but not a mile later I was making a right turn and started sliding. Being that I had had my license at that point for 3 years I didn’t panic, I just started pumping the brakes like you are supposed to and that’s when it hit me: My sister didn’t know that was what you were supposed to do while you were sliding. Nobody in the driver’s ed pushed enough what to do when you were sliding, did she know to turn into a slide? I don’t know because I just assume everyone knows. That is the problem. So much of driving is assuming everyone else has been taught the exact same way you were and they know what to do in every situation that could arise but at the end of the day, those situations are sudden.

Being a safe driver means putting yourself in the best position to be prepared for unexpected situations to come up, putting down the phone, leaving earlier than necessary to ensure you do not speed. Simple actions like that reduce the likelihood of an accident, putting you and the community around you in the best possible position for success.