Teen Driver safety is an important and pressing issue; teenagers make up the future of our nation, and some of the most vulnerable members of society. Without adequate driving education, they are exposed to undue risk, which could potentially be catastrophic. This is amplified by the culture around driving as a teenager, with many countless American cities and towns being unfeasible to navigate without a motor vehicle, and getting your driver's license as a teenager is directly associated with freedom and independence. This has the effect of causing teenage drivers to rush into getting their license as fast as possible. With adequate driving education, however, the likelihood of the catastrophes decreases, leading to a safer teenage population, and a truly rigorous driver's education ensures that no catastrophes come as a result of blind ignorance.
Teen drivers face many challenges, with a lot of them being unique to their demographic. The first one that is often overlooked is that the teen drivers are often responsible for driving around their peers who may not have their licenses or this education; these peers can often be distracting and hinder the ability of the driver. It’s important that both teen drivers and teen passengers are aware of these risks and use mitigation strategies in order to stay focused on the road. Another issue facing teen drivers is the sheer amount of distractions that come from their cell phones. While texting and driving has been a long-term issue, with the increased popularity of smartphone technologies, teen drivers are likely to be distracted by a myriad of options such as music streaming, social media, and FaceTime calls. It’s important that teen drivers are aware that these distractions have the potential to be just a damaging as texting and driving. Young drivers must be given the instruction to choose their music at the start of the ride and wait until the ride is over before touching their phone again; anything else opens the driver up to undue risk. The last major risk for teen drivers is substance use, while these substances are typically illegal for use by those under the age of 21, this doesn’t mean that some youths won’t engage with these substances. Any further education that informs youths about the deleterious effects that alcohol, marijuana, or any other substance can have is a worthwhile endeavor.
A personal observation about the shortcomings of teenage drivers informed my initial claim that teenage drivers are often times easily distracted by their peers. When I was a teenager, I vividly remember experiences of being in the passenger seat while conversing with friends, when suddenly they would become completely distracted by the conversation and start driving erratically. Some of the most extreme examples I have seen have been teenagers turning their heads completely to face someone in the back seat while driving, entering a no-entry off-ramp of a highway into oncoming traffic, which miraculously didn’t result in an accident, and people so focused on conversation that they simply don’t process the red light ahead of them. These are pretty horrible driving mistakes that you would only expect from someone under the influence, but these were mistakes that I watched three separate teenagers make, all of whom were hardworking and bright but had a complete momentary lapse of judgement due to them being enammered in conversation, which is why I view it as one of the most important areas for increased education, as young drivers do not have the muscle memory that older drivers have to be able to hold a conversation.
There are many things teens can do to ensure a safer driving experience. The first is to ensure that the phone is completely put away, and that the music for the trip has been chosen in advance; adjusting music mid-ride can be equally as dangerous and irresponsible as texting and driving. Next would be establishing clear boundaries with their friends in the car; the driver should be very clearly able to communicate that they need to focus and cannot talk, and when road conditions settle, they can resume the conversation. There is no shame in needing to lock in while driving. One more incredibly important step is to ensure that you are in a clear headspace when driving; this not only extends to the use of substances, but also extreme emotional volatility and sleep deprivation, both of these factors dramatically increase your risk of an accident.
Schools and communities can take many different approaches to making the driving experience safer. One possibility is increasing the quality of public transportation, decreasing the necessity of driving. Another is using all available resources to ensure that the road conditions are as simple and safe as possible, avoiding the use of certain construction methods that can make cities more accident-prone. The final and most important thing that can be done is ensuring that adequate driving education is provided to the youth, starting early and young. I know the effectiveness of this as I am an example. When I was in the Fifth grade, I had a police officer come to my school to speak on the topic of texting while driving. At the time, I didn’t pay it much mind because I wouldn’t be driving anytime soon. However, he had us do an exercise; he used the example of a car moving at 45 Miles per hour, which is a seemingly slow speed. He then had us walk the entire length of the school's recreational area. After this, he states that this is how far the vehicle would have traveled in a single second of looking down at a cell phone. This clearly made an impression, as not only do I remember it to this day, but I have also never texted while driving.