Safe Teen Driving

Brooke Noble, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Safe Driving in Today’s Busy World

According to the National Safety Council, half of all teens will be involved in a car crash before graduating from high school (www.nsc.org) This statistic shocked and frightened me and has caused me to deeply reflect on safety and what we can do to prevent accidents not only for ourselves but for our friends and family.

The NSC also states that, contrary to popular belief, teens crash because they are Inexperienced drivers. Due to inexperience, judging gaps is more difficult, turning safely and driving the right speed for the conditions are more difficult for teenage drivers. We, as teen drivers, can gain more experience by spending more time with our parents driving as our biggest influencer, paying attending in drivers ed class and being active and vocal in our community when topics and opportunities arise to speak up to encourage safe driving laws, policies and community involvement.

The "5 to Drive" from the NHTSA are:

• No cell phones while driving

• No extra passengers

• No speeding

• No alcohol

• No driving or riding without a seat belt

I have created an action plan around each of these rules that I can implement in my daily life and will share with others either in conversation, in class or other communication channels such as social media. The hands-free law has emphasized no cell phones will driving. However, because it’s relatively new, I have seen first-hand people still holding their phones will driving. I have a sleeve from the Students Against Destructive Decisions club that I am a member of at school so that we can put our phones away while driving. When we volunteer as a SADD club, we hand out these sleeves so that others are reminded to put away their cell phones, too.

Being a member of SADD has also reinforced no drinking underage or especially while driving, and if one of my friends does decide to drink, I have volunteered to be a friend they can call any time of night for a ride safely home. I have had multiple friends call me for rides after parties to take them home and it makes me proud to provide this invitation to my friends that I’m here for them.

I live in St. Cloud, Minnesota where the driving due to winter weather conditions can be extremely dangerous. Black ice, blizzard conditions and low visibility create a havoc on roads for drivers especially when they are inexperienced, distracted or speeding. I can prevent crashes by giving enough distance between myself and other cars, leaving early enough to drive slowly to my destination and keeping a car safety kit within my car in the event of an emergency. I have experienced a crash while I was driving with a deer that jumped out in the middle of the road and hit the side of my car. I learned from this experience to drive slow enough to react to anything that comes my way.