In the Driver's Seat

I was seven years old driving the family four-wheeler around the house. I knew the rules - no higher than second gear - but the nothing-can-hurt-me-I'm-superman mentality of a seven-year-old won out and I shifted into fourth gear as I rounded the backside of our house. After two days in intensive care and five days in the hospital, my respect for motorized vehicles grew strong.

As I grew older, I was allowed to drive pickups and farm equipment around the farm. Safety was always stressed and I learned how to react to different situations. This was the beginning of my informal driver's training. Because of these experiences, the driving part of driver's training was easy. Respecting both the instructor and the power of a moving vehicle is an important aspect of driver's training. I appreciated learning from someone other than my parents and was able to build on my experiences.

When my parents and grandparents were young, driver's training was handled as a class during school or in the summer. No matter how good of a driver I thought I was, there were important driving rules I learned while taking the online learning part of drivers education. As we have seen the number of deaths due to vehicle accidents increase in the last few years, I feel students should take the class part with a teacher in a classroom setting and be required to take driving instruction from an experienced instructor. By taking the class over a semester many driving conditions would be experienced. Too many of my friends waited the extra six months and have no formal education. They tend to be the ones who don't take the responsibility of driving seriously and have gotten in multiple accidents.

One major cause of accidents in my rural area is the inability to properly adjust for conditions on gravel roads. My sister wrecked her car while following a classmate to her house on a dirt road. Neither her friend, who was used to driving on gravel, or my sister thought of the effect of loose gravel on a small car. Four of my friends have wrecked their trucks causing injury, one of which was a serious concussion that kept him out of school for weeks. Another friend wrecked with me in the truck driving too fast for the conditions when he hit the gravel road washboards. I was so scared I blacked out even though I didn't hit my head. A classmate was killed while her boyfriend drove her in snowy conditions. Alcohol was not the problem in any of these accidents, just foolish judgment and lack of respect for the vehicle.

Thankfully, I was spared from the long-term physical effects of my four-wheeler accident, but I still remember the horrible hospital stay and still take driving and safety seriously. Formal drivers education, experience driving in a variety of conditions, and awareness of unique situations are keys to reducing the number of deaths related to driving.