There are healthy fears and unhealthy fears in life. I would define a healthy fear as one that is profitable towards one’s life, and an unhealthy fear as one that does the opposite, it hurts one’s capability of life. For instance, in my personal experience, I believe I have a healthy fear of driving because with it I became a more cautious driver. While I was growing up, whenever I was asked to move a vehicle in the driveway, or drive my family’s side-by-side used for work around the house, I would cry because I was so scared to drive.
Once I was eligible to get my license, I began to feel more comfortable and I can proudly say, I am not so scared now to the point of tears. However, due to that fear, I don’t take a drive for granted, I stay cautious knowing in a matter of seconds, anything can happen.
A teen learning to drive is a dangerous time but everyone has to start somewhere. It is important for everyone to drive cautiously, not just of their own driving but of the driving of others too. A teenager can be a safe driver and still be caught in an accident from another person’s mistake. I believe it’s a good idea for drivers’ education to be taught to young drivers because it teaches them to be cautious of their surroundings and the rules of the road. Providing drivers’ education as a requirement for teens learning to drive will overall keep everyone safe on the road.
However, only providing teens with drivers’ education is not going take away all mistakes and accidents on the road. I think some of the biggest challenges teens have when it comes to driving involves phones, passengers, and their inexperience. Phones are constantly lighting up and or making sounds of incoming notifications. In this day of age, its nearly impossible for people not to pay attention to what’s going on through their screens. Thus, setting up a huge distraction for young drivers. In addition to this, the passengers they may have while driving can be distracting. Whether it’s a family member or a friend the temptation to not be fully focused is present. Furthermore, any peer pressure involved that might involve reckless decisions to be made, that normally would not be if alone. The third challenge a young teen has with driving involves their inexperience. There are different things people learn as they age, and I believe driving is one of them. Even an older adult, if he or she gets a new vehicle it takes them some time to adjust to that new car. As a person has more time behind the wheel, they know what to look for from other drivers or even from the weather and how to adapt with the different weather conditions of that day.
Some ways a teen can avoid these common challenges while driving is one, to set their phone on silent. Without the notification there is no distraction. Two, teens should avoid driving with distracting passengers. Likewise, teens shouldn’t fall into temptation of what their friends or family members say. Doing something because it’s cool doesn’t mean that its safe or a good idea. Often times, those reckless ideas are what can cause strangers on the road to be wrapped up in that teens mistake. Third, teens should consider what occurs around them and also listen to the wisdom of others with more experience than them. The main thing that comes to my mind that a teen should take into consideration is the what the weather around them is like.
I’ve experienced a near disastrous encounter with another car because of a stupid decision of my own. It was a winter morning and a lot of snow had just fallen, I was on my way to church when I slipped on the road and spun a full turn and about made contact with another car coming from the other direction. I had only stopped because of the ditch on the other side of the road. I, praise God, was not hurt nor was the other person. If I had listened to my parents and bought new tires before the bad storm hit, along with considering what the weather conditions were that morning, I wouldn’t have been in the situation I was in nor put another individual in danger.
It takes more than just a few people to teach a teen to drive a vehicle and be safe on the road. Teens spend most of their time in school. So, if schools had classes mandatory for teens to take that teach about driving safety and if communities put on activities that encourages safe driving, then the entire community would be safer because of the time every one put into keeping everyone safe.
Overall, it’s clear if more time was put into teaching teens the safety of driving and teaching them against distractions while in the car, then the safer people would be everywhere. Teens wouldn’t be late to buy new tires and end up in a ditch if they wouldn’t have ignored their parents help, no teens who were grew up learning information from those who are older than them, who have more experience, then they wouldn’t be prone to ignore and go their own way. If every teen had a healthy fear of driving, then the future safety of those on the road would be greater.