It is a responsibility most teens look forward to once they turn 16. I am no exception. When we are young, we often rely on mom, dad, or some responsible adult to get us from point A to point B. However, there comes a time when we transition from saying goodbye to our scooters and bicycles and hello to the rules of the road. Yes, driving is a huge responsibility. If taken seriously, it's a significant step toward independence and gives us great freedom. But there's the flipside as well. My first driving experiences were scary because I shared the road with many others. You really don't know if they should be on the road themselves based on some of the poor driving decisions they make. I felt like everybody knew I was a beginner when I drove. Some would say I drove super slow. I like to think I drove cautiously. Watching my parents drive, and later my big sister deal with situations on the road prepared me to transition from back seat driver to finally taking the wheel. I have learned from being involved in an accident that I should always follow the rules of the road.
As I started to get closer to becoming a legal driver, my parents would always lecture me about driver safety. We could only travel somewhere with them, drilling the importance of what I should always do so I would not become a negative highway statistic. I remember three key points in particular. Obey all traffic laws, avoid distractions, and always drive defensively.
Buckle up or stay home is my family's motto. I remember watching the news about a couple on their way home from prom that got into an accident. The driver was speeding and ended up hitting a tree. The two were both thrown from their cars. That always stuck with me, even as I attended prom with my boyfriend. Speaking of speed, I was always taught not to leave the house at the last minute and then drive fast to get where I needed to go. I was in an accident when my family and I returned from the library. My grandfather slowed down at a yellow light to prepare to stop. Suddenly we could hear a car hitting its brakes, trying to slow down. Apparently, they were too close and driving so fast that they hit us from the back. Nobody was seriously injured; the shock of getting hit had my sister and me in tears. It would become another painful lesson of what not to do once I was behind the wheel. I must admit that I was not thinking about life lessons at the moment.
The second safety measure is the most difficult one for drivers my age. That is distracted driving. I say this because I have been in cars with people who are trying to use google maps to find a place. They end up having to make a quick decision about where to turn because the directions rerouted and that nearly resulted in us getting hit. Sometimes I feel like the old person in the car with my friends when we go out. I can hear my parents saying, "turn that music down so you can concentrate on the road." I never thought I would become my father among my friends, but the good thing is they listened to me because we are all young drivers.
The third important safety measure I learned was defensive driving in driver's education class. I got the opportunity to use this skill when I took my road test for my license. After we buckled our seat belts, my driving instructor explained what I could expect during the test.
I had to anticipate what other drivers could do while ensuring I did what I was supposed to do. Sure enough, as we sat at a red light, it turned green, but I did not immediately take off. It was a good decision because a person in an SUV ran the light, and we would have crashed into each other. I remembered watching a video in driver's education class about looking both ways before you proceed.
Looking back, the world of scooters and bicycles was far less complicated than driving the streets of Ohio. Don't get me started on the harsh winters here. However, driver's education, family lectures, witnessing tragedy on television, and being in a car accident have all prepared me to navigate my way on the road to safer driving.