One evening around dusk as I drove home from church, I learned the most important lesson about driver safety that I suppose I will ever learn. Even though I was in no hurry to return home, I was not focused on the road. I was more concerned with skipping through my music to find a good song to listen to. As my gaze flitted between the road and the dashboard, I saw something to the right. A child had maneuvered his scooter into the ditch to let me pass by. He had no shirt on, which only helped him blend in with the dim environment. As I passed by him, I realized that if he had not stepped off the road, I would have hit him. I had barely seen him, although he was not even in my path.



This experience did two things to me. It made me very thankful to God that He allowed me to not hit that child, and this experience also made me realize that I needed to drive more safely. Driver safety is important for every age group, but especially for teenagers. The Centers for Disease Control stated that, “Teen drivers in age group have a fatal crash rate almost three times as high as drivers ages 20 and older per mile driven.” We cannot overlook this statistic. Because of a lack of experience, teenage drivers often make foolish driving decisions without even realizing how foolish those decisions are. Sadly, what this statistic does not reflect is the number of injuries and deaths that these teenagers have inflicted on others. When one looks at all the lives that teens place in jeopardy by their poor driving, it becomes obvious that poor teenage driving is not only a public safety issue, but also a public safety crisis! How may we prevent these tragedies and end this crisis? Removing the stigma of “bad driver” from teenagers will take time and effort, but it can certainly be done with proper training and encouragement. The best time to instill good habits is before a person has had any time to develop any habits at all. If we can influence teenage drivers to learn from the valuable experiences of others and to adopt good driving habits, we can create good drivers who will stay responsible as they grow up.



Driver’s education is an amazing tool with which we can create good drivers right away. It would be incredibly unsafe to expect a driver to know signs, lines, and traffic laws as soon as he turns sixteen. Driver’s education familiarizes drivers with the road before they ever encounter a stop sign. However, not only does driver’s education familiarize students with the road and its traffic laws, but it also imparts experience. The stories and anecdotes given within driver's education are powerful reinforcements to the importance of obeying traffic laws and caring for others. I remember watching videos about a sister whose brother had been hit by a car, and another about a lady who had gotten into a wreck and been badly burned. I felt terrible for the people involved, but more importantly I realized that my bad driving could lead to the same results. Driver’s education is more than a course – it provides exposure to the driving experiences of older drivers. Seeing how to drive safely contrasted with the horrible consequences of lazy driving really encourages any student to realize that when he sits behind the wheel, he can either protect others or put them in danger.



Although driver’s education is a valuable tool which encourages lawful and cautious driving, teenagers are faced with extra problems and pressures as soon as they begin to drive without an instructor. It is readily easy to see that teenage drivers lack experience. Additionally, peer pressure is an especially difficult challenge to overcome. There is such a pressure within the teenage world to fit in with the cool group who drives fast, listens to loud music, and focuses more on their friends in the car than on driving safely! Teenagers are also easily distracted by different pleasures while they are driving. It is fun to listen to music, communicate by text, and to observe the environment outside the vehicle. Why do young people not realize the risk associated with these distractions? Because young people have probably not yet experienced a driving tragedy or mishap, they believe that they are invincible and can safely do whatever they want. This “invincibility syndrome” causes them to engage in all these activities listed above and not think about what could happen next!



The solution to eliminating these problems and improving the safety of teenage driving, is to teach teenage drivers to look at the big picture while they drive. Their ability to stay safe is extremely more important than switching to their favorite song. The best way to eliminate these distractions is to literally eliminate their sources. It is wiser to leave the phone at home than to have it sit as a temptation in the passenger seat. Similarly, although it may be painful to tell certain friends that you cannot drive them around, it is better to eliminate their bad influence than to enjoy their presence in the vehicle. In essence, the beginning to fixing distracted driving is teaching people to care more about others than they care about themselves. Only when teenagers, and indeed all drivers, realize their responsibility to protect others’ safety will they begin to remove distractions and drive more slowly.



It requires a great amount of self-discipline to put away the phone, limit who you drive with, and turn down the music. The inconveniences that come with these actions often cause people to not remove the temptations from before them. But if parents and teachers share their experiences, and warn and encourage young people, young people will begin to listen and to change. Furthermore, teachers and parents need to go beyond admonition when they see a young person refusing to drive safely. For example, more parents ought to keep their children accountable to a driving standard and institute consequences for not meeting that standard. If a sixteen-year-old teenager just will not put his phone down while he drives, it is the parent’s responsibility to take that phone until the driver learns to drive safely. This is not mean. It is in the best interest of everyone’s well-being! So, while it is every individual's responsibility to recognize the risk and to put away distractions, parents and others in authority have a responsibility to keep younger drivers informed and accountable. I believe that within schools and families, young drivers could learn extremely important lessons by simply sitting down and talking with a responsible adult about safe and unsafe driving. Often, a personal story and lesson will be more influential than a multitude of book learning.



While teenage driving safety has become a public safety issue, I believe that with proper teaching this issue will become less and less. However, the responsibility does not solely lie on the Department of Education or on the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. It also rests upon parents, mentors, and teachers. They are the ones who are directly involved in young people’s lives. Their good influence and accountability are the most important step to keeping young people, and indeed everyone, safer. If safe driving is encouraged by these influential people, we could one day have generations that come to Drivers Education class already determined to care for others by driving cautiously. In the end, the greatest responsibility for safe driving belongs to each individual driver. We all must ask ourselves this question: “Am I willing to give up popularity, pleasure, and convenience in order to drive safely, and hence care for my fellow humans? Do I value their life more than I value my own wants and pleasures?” Regardless of influences and education, I and every other young person must be determined to not join the majority of teenagers who do not care about driving safely. We must do what we know is right, no matter who comes against us. Safe driving starts with YOU!