The freedom that a young teen feels when given the privilege to hold a driver’s license is immense. What a sense of pride to read your name printed along the official laminate identification card, a milestone of maturity. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement, but with this accomplishment comes great responsibility. No person should be able to hold a license until they truly understand the risks they can impose onto others on the road if they aren’t properly educated to be behind the wheel.



I live in a city in Arizona that has one of the highest rates of accidents across the country. It is rather eerier to think of how normal it has become to witness the action or the aftermath of a vehicle collision. A common reason for accidents I witness on the road where I live is that someone inappropriately uses the left turn lane to perform a U turn. There are times where one can’t make a U turn in a left turn lane of an intersection if there is signage that says not to. People ignore this and find their fender to rear of someone to their left who was simply trying to make a right turn. I will be vulnerable here for a moment and admit that I have put myself in a similar situation.



It was after dark on a busy weekday night. I had just spent hours in the campus library and finally decided to get home to see my parents before they went to bed. My commute from school to home only requires making a few turns. Between my fatigue and mellow music, it was easy for me to not stay sharp and alert during the long stretch that I went straight. Once it was time to make a left turn at an intersection, I tried to wait for a green arrow. The car behind me was edging closer to me, impatiently waiting for me to try to make my turn while the light was still green, and the turn arrow was blinking yellow. I thought I had perceived a safe situation to turn when the only car coming from the opposite direction was heading for the right turn lane. I had to find out the hard way that they were actually going to continue straight by us colliding fenders. This night scares my memory from how it felt to try to keep afloat in a pool of my own guilt. Not to mention that the person driving the car I hit behaved very nasty and rudely towards me. I suppose he was entitled to his own feelings, but it didn’t have to include calling me names and making me feel unsafe as a woman driving alone at night.



This experience led to a lot of reflection on my end. How can my desire to take accountability for this reflect in my actions? My thinking revolved around what a first-time driver can do to best prepare to obtain their license, and what programs can be created to ensure people retain the information needed to be a safe and responsible driver at all ages.



I believe that it should be a requirement to attend a driver’s ed course once a driving permit is received to be eligible to graduate with a license. I personally was taught how to drive by my mom. As knowledgeable of a law-abiding citizen she is on the road, I can see



what benefits I could’ve reaped if I was taught how to operate a vehicle in Driving School. According to a research paper posted by the University of Nebraska, drivers who had taken a driver’s ed course were involved in fewer crashes: 11% of people belonging to driver’s ed group versus 13% of people in the group that hadn’t taken a course. The statistic advocates for getting more first-time drivers involved in a driver’s ed program for better preparation to be behind the wheel. The requirement shouldn’t be able to be fulfilled at just ANY school. There should be certification that comes from the Department of Transportation if the driver’s ed program doesn't belong directly to them. This ensures that the education plan created by a third-party school meets the standards set by the MVD. The standards should include defensive driving, basic vehicle maintenance, traffic laws/regulations and more.



I would argue that it’d be important to better mandate driver education for all stages of life. In Arizona, the law states that once you reach the age of 65 you must renew your license at the MVD and continue to do so every five years. If there is no regulation that prohibits one from maintaining their license status between the age of 16 and 65, what is ensuring the importance of road safety never gets disregarded over the years? It may seem extreme to some to require someone to renew their license more frequently if they aren’t 65 yet. However, in America the annual death toll due to driving is as high as the death toll of American soldiers lost to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan COMBINED. This is simply a sign of reform needed to the current standards. I propose more frequency of license renewal. This would require people to review their traffic laws and regulations more regularly to ensure they know how to handle any situation that comes their way on the road.



In conclusion, I firmly believe in the need for more young folks getting their driver education from MVD programs and more license renewals between the ages of 16 and 65. Action must be taken to reduce the number of deaths caused by driving. A great place to start is ensuring that every person, no matter their age, can feel confident behind the road because their driving educational program gave them the tools needed to drive safely and responsibly.