Increase the Time under Supervision

The importance of drive education can not be understated. In a summary created by Driving Tests they found that “Teens aged 15-20 without drivers ed are responsible for 91% of teen driver crashes” (https://driving-tests.org/driving-statistics/). These deaths most likely have to do with lack of experience and traffic violations. In the same summary the group found that “the fatal crash rate per mile driven for drivers ages 16-19 is nearly triple the rate for drivers ages 20 and over. And the fatal crash rate per mile driven is nearly twice as high for drivers ages 16-17 as it is for drivers ages 18-19” (https://driving-tests.org/driving-statistics/). For many of these cases the lack of experience behind the wheel is a cause of the issues and fatal crash rate.

While many states demand a certain number of hours behind the wheel this may not be enough. In Illinois the state requires “an additional 50 hours of behind-the-wheel driving practice with your parent/guardian or supervising licensed driver at least 21 years old, including 10 hours driven at night” (https://www.dmv.org/il-illinois/teen-drivers.php). This is only 40 hours of driving during the day time. This simply isn’t enough time to truly get a feel for the wheel. Driving isn’t a simple task that can be learned over the course of a month. This is why the fatal crash rate for teenagers is so high. The lack of experience is quite literally killing them. Increasing the number of hours that a teenager needs to be behind the wheel while under supervision could help with this. This would help increase the number of hours being driven before being by themselves while also allowing a supervisor to make sure that no bad habits are created. The only major issue with this solution is that the increase in time needed to complete drivers ed could cause so families to take much longer due to other time commitments that need to be prioritized.

I have not personally been in a car accident, but I was almost in one. I was travelling with family down a rural road in Wisconsin going to visit some family members that we hadn’t seen in a few years. My primary passenger and I noticed a garbage truck about 1000 feet in front of us that was blocking the road. We saw that I had enough time to pass the garbage truck while also making sure that the car that was coming towards us didn’t hit us. The only problem is that I had never overtaken anyone before, and didn’t truly know when to move over from each side. The issue wasn’t that the overtake was hard, but that I did not have the experience of doing such a feat. By the time I had finished the overtaking of the garbage truck my blood was rushing from the adrenaline rush that I experienced. The lack of experience was a truly terrifying experience that I never want to have to go through again.