The news hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember that day and the days following all too well. It was a Wednesday evening in March of 2022. My family was about to head to church for the nighttime service, and, while my mom was making dinner in the kitchen, I was sitting in the recliner in the corner of my living room playing a video game on my brother’s Nintendo Switch. I heard my mom’s cell phone go off, and being the person I am, eavesdropped on her conversation. She was too far away for me to hear the other voice on the phone, but, like always, she answered with a cheerful, “Hello!” Almost immediately, her chipper tone vanished and was replaced with a panicked and worried, “Oh my gosh. What happened? Who was involved?” Me figuring it was an “adult conversation,” I went back to playing my game. Seconds later I hear the words, “Oh. Okay… Yeah, I’ll tell Sophie.” After hanging up the phone, my mom slowly and solemnly walked over to me and delivered the news that would shatter my life:
“Gardner died in a car crash.”
My mom wouldn’t joke about something like this, and besides, I could tell from her serious tone that this was no joke. I don’t remember much after that, only that a few moments later, I found myself on the floor, clutching my wet face in my hands. I remember thinking, “I saw him just today. I gave him a hug. He said he’d see me tomorrow.” Nothing made sense and, to this day, it still doesn’t. Why would God take such a beloved friend from me?
The days following were a haze. Everywhere I went, I saw tear-stained, puffy-eyed faces, sad, sappy social media posts, and counselors reaching out and offering help. Gardner never met a stranger, and he was so important to everyone in our small community. We held a candlelight vigil for him that Thursday where some of his closest friends, his girlfriend, and his father shared stories about him and his aspirations of being a pastor. He was a member in our band program, an avid boy scout, and a good, Christian boy. That following marching season, we spray painted on our field “LLGC: Live Like Gardner Cameron.” The other band members and I still use that motto daily.
I’ve often thought about what would have happened that night, or what might have gone differently if we had been better trained in safe driving. At that point in 2022, I had not yet gotten my license, nor my drivers permit. Though Gardner’s passing was one of the hardest things I have had to go through, I will say, my consciousness when it came to driving was heightened. Now, in preparing for my permit test, I studied the driver’s manual constantly.
I believe that if driver’s education classes better equipped young drivers for the road, there would be less car-related deaths. Driver’s tests are truly, extremely easy to pass. I was surprised by how easy the driver’s test was to pass. If this test was made slightly more challenging, I think that our generation would be a generation full of safe drivers. I remember my friend telling me that she did not even encounter an intersection on her driving test. If the young drivers of today are not tested on the things they will encounter, simply on their way to school, then how are they supposed to react when faced with bigger, scarier driving obstacles, such as the interstate?
I propose that in all public and private schools, a student must have at least nine weeks of driver’s education before being allowed to take their test. In these driver’s education classes, the first two or so weeks will be spent purely on road safety: the importance of buckling up, reviewing what road signs mean, right-of-way, etc. Then in the following four to five weeks, the students can get experience in the driver’s seat, starting slow, throughout their school campus, then working their way up to dirt roads, and back roads, with the goal of eventually being able to comfortably drive on main roads and highways. Ideally, a student will have multiple times to drive with their instructor.
I have often seen the argument that it takes much longer for students to practice driving in a driver’s education class in larger schools, due to larger class sizes. I propose more teachers are hired. If more money was spent on ensuring the safety of students and their driving by hiring knowledgeable and experienced driving teachers, I believe our students would be much safer drivers. However, it is also important for instructors to encourage their students to practice driving with a trusted, licensed adult outside of school. This will ensure that the student has extra practice before taking their test, but oftentimes, the adult can take them driving longer, maybe around areas that the student is less comfortable, and will also give the student a different approach to driving. Perhaps the adult will say the same thing the instructor says, but in a way that the student understands. The adult should stress to the young driver the importance of abiding by speed limits and should keep a careful watch on the speedometer.
After their time behind the wheel, students would learn about car maintenance (changing the tire, checking the oil, etc.) and what to do in those worst-case scenarios: “What if my tire blows? What if it’s raining so hard I can’t see? What if I get in an accident?” However frightening it may be, it is important for students to learn about those worst-case scenarios, because, eventually, something will happen, but if a student knows how to handle that situation, whether it be a flat tire, or rain blocking their vision, it will result in a calmer, safer driver.
I have taken some steps to personally become a better driver. Every time I enter the vehicle, I put my phone on silent, as to avoid distractions while the car is in motion. Sometimes, if I need to drive shortly after a text conversation has begun, I need to turn my phone upside down or put it away, so that I do not see the screen light up and feel tempted to respond. If I want to put on music, I do that before I drive. I make sure that everyone in my vehicle is buckled up before we pull out. These are small steps I think every young person can take to become a safer driver.
If Gardner’s death taught me anything, its that we need safer drivers in our world. We can better the quality of our drivers by increasing the difficulty of driver’s tests, improving our school’s driver’s education classes, and requiring a quarter of driver’s education in public and private schools. By encouraging students to practice with a trusted, licensed adult outside of school, not text-and-drive, and abide by speed limits, I believe we can produce a generation of better, calmer, safer young drivers.