Teen driver safety is an important public issue because the amount of car crashes and accidents attributed to teenagers are all too common in this day and age. The role of driver’s education classes is to address the importance of staying alert and safe on the road, however, many don’t take it seriously. For example, I remember taking my end of course exam and studying very hard for it, but only passively, because I just wanted a good grade. I didn’t fully understand the gravity and importance of what I was studying, and I’m sure others didn’t as well. Some challenges that teens face today on the road can be attributed to the following: passengers talking to the driver, music that is too loud, smartphones and text messages, peer pressure to break the laws while on the road, and of course, overall lack of experience. The ways that teenagers can overcome these are actually quite simple. To limit the distractions of passengers interacting with the driver, teens should ask all passengers to limit conversation in order for them to focus on the road. Next, easily distracted drivers should not be playing music at all, however those who feel as if they can handle having music in their car should not have it on loudly. This will make it easier for distractions to interrupt a safe driving experience, as well as make it harder for teens to be able to listen to things on the road, such as honking. For example, if a teen driver is at a red light and it turns green while the driver is distracted, the driver behind them might honk so that they can have their attention back to the road. However, if the music is too loud, the teen might not hear and will hold up the traffic until they redirect their focus on the road. Another major distraction is smartphones. I know many teens who will constantly go on their smartphone while driving whether that’s to skip a song playing, call someone, or even text while driving. To combat this, teens can simply put their phones away in a place where they can’t easily access it while driving. Although if they do need to access it for an emergency, they can have a passenger access it for them and carry out the actions that the driver would do. Peer pressure is also a major threat to safe driving for teens. I know many friends who love to speed on the highways when its only them and some friends, but I know most of them wouldn’t do that on their own. To overcome this would recommend to not drive with many friends at night, especially “friends” that like to peer pressure. Lastly, for lack of experience, drivers should ask their parents to be in the passenger side whenever they are driving. Once the parent feels as though the teen driver is ready to be on the road alone, then they can move on to do so.
        My own brother showed how import it is for teens to follow safe driving habits, twice. The first time was about a week ago. He was with some friends at a car meetup where they would bring their most exotic cars, and they were on their way to drive him home. While they were doing that, they took a detour and decided to take the windy backroads instead. During this, they hit a speed of 110 miles per hour. The thing is, my brother wasn’t the one who was driving, he was simply a passenger. Although, he told me it was one of the other passengers that encouraged the teen driver to make those poor decisions that night. All I could think about was the teen who had passed away just a couple of months ago for also speeding in a car at night.  The second case of my brother showing me how truly important it is for teens to have safe driving habits was just yesterday. We were coming back home from our internship and turning onto a three-lane road. My brother got distracted by looking at another car and shifted his attention to the left while turning right. While he was doing this, another car was merging into the left lane going the opposite direction to turn left onto another road. My brother drove with a wide turn and nearly hit the other car head on. If I hadn’t directed his attention back to the road, who knows what would’ve happened. His head quickly snapped back forward, and he swerved away from the car in front of us. Some specific actions that teens can take to promote safer driving, is by being an example for others and drive safely themselves. If my friends see me driving as safe as possible while taking precautions, they might want to replicate what I’m doing for themselves and pass safe habits onto others. How schools can promote this, is by not only continuing to teach drivers ed, but also having survivors of car accidents come to talk to the children at schools about how important the safety of driving is, to give teens a realistic scenario of what could happen if they aren’t safe. Finally, communities could promote driver safety to its teens by having small competitions as of who in the community qualifies as the best teen driver and perhaps give them a prize for it. This can help build safe driving habits for teens, while also allowing them to have a fun and friendly competition while doing so.