In the Driver's Seat

Erin McCreight

There is a car parked at the entrance of my high school that never moves. It's crushed, all beat up, and left there on purpose. Teenagers were texting in that car when it wrecked, and they died. I walked past it pretty much every day when it was there, and it never stopped getting to me. Most mornings I would barely notice it, then some mornings it would catch my attention and I would think about who was sitting in those seats. That car taught me more about driving than any lecture ever could.

Driver education matters because it takes an activity that feels casual and shows you what it actually is. Getting behind the wheel means controlling tons of metal at speeds the human body was never built to survive. Thousands of people die on American roads every year, and most of those deaths trace back to decisions, not bad luck. Speeding, texting, driving tired, driving impaired. A good driver's ed program does two things at once. It teaches the rules, the signs, the right of way, all the mechanical knowledge you need to pass a test. But the better programs also teach judgment, and judgment is the thing that saves lives. When I took driver's ed, the part that stuck with me wasn't the parallel parking. It was learning that the brain cannot actually multitask behind the wheel, that reading one text at highway speed means traveling the length of a football field with your eyes closed. Once you understand why something is dangerous instead of just being told it is, your behavior changes for real.

Reducing deaths on the road takes more than education, though education is where it starts. I think there are three steps that would make a genuine difference. First is the enforcement of distracted driving laws needs the same energy we already put into drunk driving enforcement. My home state of Colorado bans handheld phone use and treats texting as a primary offense, which means an officer can pull you over for just having it in your hand. The law is reasonable, but a law only works if people believe it will actually be enforced, and right now a distracted driver is easy to miss and hard to prove. High visibility patrols near schools during peak hours would send the message that the rule is real. Second is driver education should spend more time on the science of distraction and less on memorizing fine schedules. Young drivers respond to understanding, not threats. The last is we need to make safe habits into social norms the same way seat belts became normal. My generation grew up with phones in our hands, so the fix has to be built into how we use them, not just told to us.

My own connection to this runs deeper than the car at my school. My brother lost two close friends in a crash, and I watched what that grief did to him. It reshaped how he saw everything, including something as ordinary as getting in a car. Watching him carry that changed how I drive. I have had my license for over a year now, and I do a lot of driving, and I made one rule for myself before I ever pulled out of the driveway alone. My phone goes on do not disturb the second I start the engine, every single trip, no exceptions. It's a small habit but small habits are the whole game. I also learned to speak up as a passenger, which is harder than it sounds. When a friend reaches for their phone at a red light, saying something feels awkward for about three seconds. Staying quiet can cost a lot more than three seconds of awkward.

Looking ahead, I'm heading to Oregon State University this fall to study Bioresource Research, and getting there will involve a lot of highway miles between Colorado and Oregon. Every one of those miles is a choice. I plan to keep making the same ones I make now. Phone away, speed reasonable, full attention on the road, and rest stops when I'm tired instead of pushing through. I spent four years as a mentor to younger students in my Scout troop and my marching band, and if there is one thing mentoring taught me, it's that people copy what you do far more than what you say. If my younger friends see me put my phone in the console before I turn the key, some of them might start doing it too. That's how safe driving actually spreads, one visible habit at a time.

That crushed car that was at my school entrance shows up every year, and new freshmen will walk past it. I hope they really look at it. I did, and it made me the driver I am.