Driver
Education


You
are crying. These are your first moments as a child, then you are
walking. You learn how to ride your bike, and then you are attending
your first middle school dance. It is the night before the first day
of high school, you are nervous. Then it is your last first day of
high school. This time you are crying because it is the first of an
abundance of lasts throughout the next 9 months. These are the best
kind of last’s
you can experience, but at the time they seem like the worst. As
teenagers, we do not really let the thought slip into our mind of
maybe when our last day could be. We are reckless. We use the excuse
that we are young too often, when any day could be our last, and the
scariest part of it all is that going to our last first day of school
could end it all for us.


I
learned drivers ed at the age of fourteen. It was important for
me to pass, so I paid close attention, but now I could not tell you
half of the things they talked about. This class gave me the in’s
and out’s of driving everywhere. Most teenagers take this class
just so they can have the freedom of driving on their own, which is
probably one of the scariest parts for parents. Sadly, once we learn
what to prepare for behind the wheel, it slips out of our thoughts.
As teenagers, we think we are invincible. We tell ourselves we can
eat and drive, we can text and drive, we can pick a song while we
drive, and lastly we can speed without getting caught. Unfortunately,
we learn this the hard way through many accidents. How many accidents
and deaths have to occur before everybody who gets behind the wheel
is convinced that we are not invincible? There are many answers to
this question, but one is to take drivers ed classes seriously.



Over
the summer I had come across a story of five girls who got into a
tragic car accident. They were speeding and the driver didn’t
have her full attention on the task that was at hand, driving. Four
of those girls lost their lives that night, and only one survived. I
have even caught myself swerving into the other lane while I am
trying to text my mom back or change the song I am playing. I think
to prevent more accidents and deaths from happening every year we
need to put the phone down and focus on the road. It shouldn’t take
years for us to figure this out, and people don’t understand how
scary it is until themselves or a loved one nearly has their life
taken away in an accident.


You
never know when your last day will be, but you can try to prevent it
from being in a car accident. You don’t
want to experience all your lasts too early. Pay attention to the
road, put the phone down, and get to your destination safely. I am
sure your parents pray about it every night.