I always catch my eyes wandering at a stoplight—especially the ones where the red light seems to last an eternity. There's almost always a teenager checking their phone, or coming up to the stop with insane speed, leaving barely a hair's worth of space between their bumper and the car in front of them. Other times, it’s the reverse: adults drive carelessly while teens, distracted or unsure how to react, aren't prepared to respond. And, to be fair, I was similar as a teen. These incidents are dangerous and all too common.
I remember the very first bad wreck I was involved in. My family and I were coming home from Florida, driving to Missouri. We were in Nashville at the time, stuck in rush hour traffic. Three cars ahead of ours, a car stopped, and every vehicle, including ours, stopped behind it. The only car that didn't stop was the car behind ours, and of course, it was a teenager with no license or insurance. Being educated about the road could have made that situation drastically different. For one, driver's ed teaches you all about paying attention to the road, that traffic patterns can and will often change when you don't expect it. When you pay attention, you give yourself more time to prepare for these situations.
There was another time a teenage driver hit me. He had a puppy in his passenger seat, and I was stopped at a stoplight waiting for it to turn green. I couldn't move when I noticed because I would have gone into oncoming traffic. The accident could have been avoided if he had prepared and eliminated distractions, such as putting his puppy in the back seat with a dog seatbelt. When he got out of his car, I saw he didn't have plates, so I asked if he had insurance, and he told me he did not. Another reason a teen shouldn't be driving without education- he didn't have any of the info he needed, so I had to call the police. Not only was the wreck completely avoidable, but it was also very time-consuming because he was unprepared. He immediately got out of his car after the wreck, instead of pulling off to a less busy spot on the road, which was unsafe. In driver's education, they would teach you to move the car if it were safe. There are many things that seem like common sense in these situations, but a lot of teenagers are inexperienced when it comes to conflict on the road.
Whether it's accidents slowing down the flow of traffic or being able to read what the road signs are telling you, it's essential to get all the education you can before getting out on the busy road. Learning the road is more than just getting behind the wheel. Driver's education classes not only address the basics of operating a vehicle, but also all the rules of the road, and give you time to practice and experience driving in low-stress environments such as parking lots. I can tell you from personal experience that learning to drive in low-stress environments makes it so much easier to pick up on good driving habits. You have more time to think, and your teacher will help you correct little things to help shape you into someone ready for the road without overwhelming you.
In addition to the practical skills they teach you, they reinforce your ability to make good decisions on the road. When I took driving classes, even for the post office, they included a module that taught you how to avoid getting into a wreck in many situations. Situations like if someone is driving toward you with your high beams on at night, they teach you to look at the white line on the outer side of the road and follow it so you do not collide with oncoming traffic. There are many situations such as this where they give examples. While there isn't an example for everything, they do everything they can to prepare you to the best of their ability for any situation. A big part of the reason uneducated teens get into accidents is that they are ignorant, don't know what to do, and panic.
Teen safety on the road is paramount, as is the safety of all drivers. Driver's education is essential because it equips teens with and reinforces good habits behind the wheel, and catches all the bad things early before they become habits. As more teens commit to driver's classes, I believe that the number of teen deaths related to driving will decrease.