The Mother Goose Must First Practice Good Driving

The
Mother Goose Must First Practice Good Driving

Rebecca
Li

A
young elementary schoolboy limped through the doors of the clinic. He
fortunately survived a vehicle collision as he crossed the streets
with his scooter.

A
high schooler opened her mouth to show her lacerated tongue, which
occurred when she bit through it with her teeth while her car spun
360 degrees on the interstate.

Most
memorably, a toddler’s cry pierces through the room as we touched
her fractured arm. She flung out from her unstrapped car seat during
a vehicle accident.

These
are only a few of the cases I see every week. Motor vehicle accidents
(MVAs we call them) are frequent chief complaints that enter through
our clinic doors each week. Even more sadly, these are the common
complaints of a pediatric primary clinic. I can only imagine the
horrendous visits to the hospital ED.

I
am a city girl who is accustomed to the bustling life of New York
City and its abundant, constantly running subway and metro systems.
It wasn’t until I moved to the flat terrain of Memphis to work at a
free clinic, I became frightened by how common reckless driving was.
Whatever I learned from drivers ed classes were immediately
thrown out the window as soon as I received my license and jumped
onto the roads.

No
one signals before turning. People often cut right in front as they
switch lanes. Some vehicles suddenly brake, unnecessarily. Others
don’t pay attention to the traffic signs.

After
living with the kids in the inner-city neighborhood of Memphis, I
realized that much of this reckless driving comes from modeling
behavior of the family. As I take these children to museums or other
educational activities, they shout in the backseat, “Ms. Rebecca,
hurry up!”, or “Ms. Rebecca, that person is too slow! Cut them!”.
While I explain to them that I am driivng at the speed limit, they
immediately scoff, “Oh, but our mama does it all the time!”

Those
comments rang the bell to this MVA dilemma. Within a few years, these
same children will be the new drivers on the street, breaking the
same rules I see now and formulating similar accidents I hear about
at clinic. Sure, they may watch drivers ed videos or practice a
minimum of 50 hours to pass the drivers test, but they have been
inundated with 16 years
of reckless driving from their parents or guardians. Now, I am not
pointing the finger at specifically parents, because this is a cycle
that has occurred for many generations.

Safe
driving practices requires this: good modeling. Similar to how baby
ducklings follow the footsteps of the mother goose, children must
also be exposed to what safe driving looks like. In fact, at around 8
months old, children can already imitate adult’s actions and
expressions. If parents don’t text and drive, teen drivers are less
likely to. If parents don’t have road rage, teen drivers also
won’t.

Safe
driving also requires explanation. It involves parental involvement
to make sure their teen drivers understand the precautions. Rather
than a mere “Don’t”, a “because” appeals to their logical
reasoning. It puts the teen drivers in charge and responsible of
their own actions, rather than feeling subordinate under parental
rule.

I
am a strong advocate of parental involvement in children’s lives.
It fosters independence, cognitive development, increased educational
opportunities, and so forth. In fact, this is my role as a community
member in Memphis: engaging in family systems to break the chains of
generational poverty. Parental involvement may be the key to
decreased accidents and deaths, especially among the teen drivers.
With more community engagement, my hope is to see decreased MVA
visits in clinic.