We’ve all experienced our parents, or other adults, ushering us into the car, instructing us to put our seatbelts on, and smoothly easing the car onto the road. We would gaze idly out the window on the way, comfortable in our seats. On a long car ride, maybe we fell asleep and were privileged enough to wake up unharmed and still innocent at our next destination. They made driving look simple; you only had to push down the accelerator and stay on the right. Right?
Wrong. There’s so much more that happens beneath the surface, so much more that the average person would miss from the passenger seat. As I grew older and the time came around for me to start driving, I started truly noticing the road. Not all drivers were driving safely. I began picking up on the little things that other drivers did that could have been a hazard. The chances of calamity seemed infinitely higher than how it felt when I was younger.
In addition to knowing how to operate the vehicle, one needs to be acutely aware of the multitude of rules and situations that could occur on the road, and constantly be on the lookout for them. And driver's education helps people do just that, by providing new drivers with the resources they need to master safe driving. The Driver’s Ed course also introduces the consequences of unsafe driving and the repercussions you might face, should you choose to be thoughtless on the road. Taking the time to utilize these resources makes the roads safer for all. While theory can never replace tactile learning, it provides a suitable foundation.
Reading the Driver’s Handbook and completing the Driver’s Ed course is only the first step. Physically attending driving classes with a certified instructor or practicing on unpopulated roads by yourself can improve your driving skills greatly, making it safer for you to drive alongside others. Practice is the only way to develop confidence and level-headedness, which are critical when driving on hectic roads. Practicing also gives people time to translate all the information they absorbed from texts into actions and eventually muscle memory.
This muscle memory must form early, as many experienced drivers sometimes forgo minor rules, resulting in practices like not using the signal light when turning onto smaller or empty roads. I see this practice being used far too commonly, and it only causes other drivers to imitate and normalize this kind of carelessness. While this seems acceptable to experienced drivers who can gauge traffic conditions and the amount of risk, it tends to confuse new drivers, who see these practices and assume the rules aren’t strictly enforced, or that it’s acceptable for them to practice these habits. New drivers practicing bad habits will cause the roads to become extremely unsafe causing the number of deaths related to driving to increase drastically. These bad practices don’t account for accidents, so they should be avoided to the utmost extent.
Another form of heedlessness is simply taking your eyes off the road. Such a small gesture, yet it holds such an immense consequence. Taking your attention away from the road for even a second means robbing yourself of enough time to react to a situation that might suddenly occur. By keeping your eyes on the road at all times, you increase your chances of spotting an unexpected vehicle or pedestrian.
Many of my friends started learning how to drive as soon as possible. One day, one of them showed up to school looking extremely disoriented and with a stutter. She had been involved in an accident due to a car cutting across multiple lanes without pausing, causing a collision. The shock from the collision lingered for about a week and threatened to impact the score of a huge upcoming exam. I remember the sense of grimness that overcame me, feeling that no one was exempt from the dangers of driving; we could only try to mitigate it. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries and my friend’s stutter did eventually pass, but it showed me how bending the rule even slightly can cause so much damage, not just for one person but for multiple people. It further stressed the importance of reading the rules carefully when learning about them from Driver’s Ed and giving them the proper attention they deserve rather than skimming over them. This is where the benefit of practice shines most. Following the rules of the road is the bare minimum and fully expected.
As a new driver myself, I will do everything in my power to learn the rules thoroughly, follow them carefully, and develop vigilance and good judgment for the safety of myself and others. As a teenager, I will be wary of listening to other new drivers who do not exemplify safe driving habits, and I will resist any form of peer pressure that could result in regrettable actions or an accident. In the interest of helping others practice caution, I will verbally advocate for defensive driving by calling out recklessness when I see it among friends and family and encouraging them to do better. As my driving improves with time, I will model good driving for all the new drivers who are to come, in hopes of one day inspiring them to take the high road. If all drivers can model good driving for one another, it sets up good standards and expectations for each new generation of drivers. As a driving community, our driving shouldn’t deteriorate, but flourish.