In the Driver’s Seat

The first time I sat behind the wheel, I remember thinking about all the things I had to control. The steering wheel. The pedals. The mirrors. The speed. I had to remember the rules of the road and pay attention to everything happening around me. What I did not think about as much was the most important thing sitting in the driver's seat: responsibility. 
   A driver's license can feel like a ticket to freedom. Suddenly, you can go places without asking someone for a ride. You can drive to school, go to work, visit friends, run errands, or simply take a drive because you can. It is easy to focus on the freedom that comes with driving and forget what makes that freedom possible. Every time we turn on a car, we are taking control of a machine that can weigh thousands of pounds and move at speeds capable of changing someone's life in seconds. That is what makes driving so different from many other everyday responsibilities. A mistake behind a computer can sometimes be corrected with a click. A mistake on an assignment can be fixed before the next class. A mistake behind the wheel may not give you another chance.

Traffic crashes continue to take tens of thousands of lives in the United States each year. NHTSA estimated that 36,640 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2025. Behind that number are thousands of individual stories, families who received phone calls they never wanted, empty seats at dinner tables, and people whose lives changed in an instant. A statistic may fit neatly on a page, but a human life never does.

This is why I believe being a safe driver begins before the car even moves.

It begins with the decision to take driving seriously.

One of the easiest ways to become distracted while driving is also something that many people carry in their hands every day: a phone. A notification appears, and curiosity takes over. A message arrives, and we tell ourselves that looking will only take a second. But driving does not pause while we check our screens. NHTSA reported that 3,208 people were killed in distracted-driving crashes in 2024.

Imagine traveling down a road and closing your eyes for five seconds. You would never intentionally do that. Yet looking down at a phone can create a similar problem. At highway speeds, a vehicle can travel the length of a football field in those few seconds. The message will still be there when we arrive. The road may not be.

Safe driving also requires understanding that speed is not simply a number on the dashboard. It affects how much time a driver has to react when something unexpected happens. A child could run toward a street. A car could suddenly stop. A pedestrian could step into a crosswalk. Rain could make the road slippery. Another driver could make a mistake.

We cannot control every person on the road, but we can control how we respond to them.

That is one of the most important lessons a driver can learn: defensive driving is not about expecting everyone else to be perfect. It is about being prepared when they are not.

Being educated about driving means understanding more than how to pass a written exam or remember which pedal is the brake. It means understanding why the rules exist. A speed limit is not just a number printed on a sign. A stop sign is not an inconvenience. A seat belt is not something to ignore because the destination is only five minutes away. These rules exist because ordinary situations can become dangerous very quickly.

A seat belt, for example, takes only a few seconds to put on. Yet NHTSA reported that 22,713 passenger-vehicle occupants were killed in crashes in 2024, and nearly half of those killed were unrestrained. There is something almost absurd about how complicated humans make safety sometimes. We can invent technology that fits inside a phone and communicates with satellites, but we still have to remind people to buckle a piece of fabric around their bodies.

The responsibility of driving extends beyond protecting ourselves. When I drive, the people around me become part of my responsibility, whether I know them or not. The pedestrian crossing the street does not know me. The family in the car beside me does not know me. The cyclist ahead of me does not know me. Yet my decisions can affect every one of them.

That is why I think being a good driver is partly about recognizing the humanity of strangers.

The person in the next car is not simply another obstacle between me and my destination. They are someone going home to their family. The pedestrian at the crosswalk is someone with somewhere to be. The person sitting in my passenger seat is trusting me with their safety. Remembering that changes the way I see driving.

It also changes how I think about mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, including drivers. The goal is not to become a perfect driver who never encounters an unexpected situation. The goal is to become a driver who makes responsible choices and learns from experience. That means knowing when to slow down, when to wait, when to let another driver go first, and when to admit that you should not be driving at all.

Sometimes the safest decision is the least convenient one.

Leave the party instead of drinking and driving. Put the phone away instead of answering the message. Slow down instead of trying to save two minutes. Pull over instead of continuing when you are too tired to concentrate. Wait instead of rushing through an intersection.

None of these decisions is dramatic. There is no movie soundtrack when someone chooses to put their phone in the glove compartment. Nobody applauds when a driver waits patiently at a red light. Safe driving can be incredibly ordinary.

That is exactly why it matters.

Thousands of people do not need to make one enormous mistake for a tragedy to happen. Sometimes it takes only one ordinary decision made at the wrong moment.

Being in the driver's seat means having the ability to decide what happens next. That is a powerful privilege, but it is also a responsibility that should never become invisible through routine. Every time I get behind the wheel, I have a choice. I can treat driving as something I simply have to do, or I can recognize what is actually in my hands.

A steering wheel controls a car.

But the person holding it controls the choices.

And sometimes, the smallest choice is the one that makes sure everyone gets home.