One glance down. One distraction. One missed red light. One or more lives gone due to car accidents. What's more important? Answering a text, changing a song, or making it home to your family? This is a question everyone should be asking themselves once they get behind the wheel. Teens face either feelings of fear or invincibility when it comes to driving. I personally feel fear, and maybe that’s why I barely drive. Even a single distraction on the road, like loud music, too many passengers, a text, or even eating, can result in an accident that people can't come back from, a life-destroying mistake.
Teen driver safety is such a major issue everywhere, but especially in the United States. This is due to the risk of inexperience when it comes to teen drivers. Teen brains are still developing. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for decision making, is not fully developed at the time teens start to drive. Not until they are around 25. Teen driving isn't about following the lines, passing driving tests, and learning the rules; rather, it’s about building judgment, responsibility, and awareness on the road.
Some of the biggest challenges that teen drivers face today are distraction. It's not only teens that face this, but everyone. May it be texting or calling, eating or even simply glancing down to change the song that's playing, can be the one mistake that can cost you or someone else their lives, and your ability to live with yourself emotionally. Sometimes, drivers are the people who survive crashes due to better protection, like the steering wheel. Survivor's guilt is a real thing that can result in harsh flashbacks, nightmares, fear, shame, depression, or anxiety. This will hurt anybody, especially teen drivers. This is due to the emotional and mental differences between teens and adults.
Another challenge can be emotional driving. Due to a lack of judgment, sometimes people try to get away when they are in emotional distress. The problem with this is that some people decide to get behind the wheel. Driving while sad, angry, or overwhelmed can cloud someone's judgment. Emotions can sometimes lead to risky decisions, and if someone is behind the wheel, it can lead to something so much bigger than just staying home or finishing the difficult conversation.
Driver's education should play a bigger role in really informing teen driver and their parents of the risk of driving. Not to scare someone into not wanting to drive, but to really show the severity of what can happen if one bad decision is made, one distraction, and what it can cause. Whilst driver's education was never officially removed from schools' curriculum, over the last couple of years fewer and fewer schools offer it. My aunt was so surprised when she realized I couldn't drive. She said, “What are they even teaching you guys anymore? When I was in high school (only 12 years before me, and at the same school), they forced us to take driver's education. I’m actually really grateful." Now, access is unequal, and this has caused a gap in safety knowledge based on income. Not everyone can afford driver's ed, and recently, I remember trying to afford it, and it's really expensive. Even trying to take the required 6 hours teens need to get behind the wheel costs over $500 in my state. Driver's education from schools provided classroom-based driver's instructions on traffic laws and road safety, along with supervised behind-the-wheel practice. Now teenagers have to rely on courses that are only available online or through parent practice. And nowadays, some teens aren't even paying attention to those classes, speeding through to get their pink slip, required to take the permit test. Sometimes habits are formed by watching those close to you, and some parents aren't showing teens the proper ways of the road. Having earlier driver's ed helps teach teens safety habits earlier on, building on a foundation of real-life road conditions.
During my senior year, my school had juniors and seniors participate in “Every 15 Minutes” to showcase the dangers of drunk driving. They staged a fake car crash involving students from the school. Every 15 minutes, a bell would ring throughout the school to show that in the U.S, someone dies due to drunk driving every 15 minutes. It signified how frequently lives are lost in accidents, specifically impaired driving. The students who were pulled were “dead,” and their families had to write their eulogy. We didn't see them until the middle of the next day, they weren't allowed to contact anyone, even family, to signify the finality of death. That experience, even simulated, helped transform how students' minds, especially mine, saw the responsibility of driving.
To promote safe driving, teens can commit to no distractions while driving by lowering their music and putting their phone on Do Not Disturb while driving. But also speak up when someone you know is making bad decisions behind the wheel and be willing to take responsibility when someone tells you that. Schools can promote awareness events and bring back driver education. Parents can lead by example, showing their kids that safety is key. As a community ,we could hold more safe-driving workshops targeted at teens, and improve roads, so that it's overall safer to drive. We should be more focused on the safety of others. The prevention of crashes with proper teaching can lead to less deaths a year.
Driving has never been about getting somewhere quickly, rather its about making sure you get back home.