An important issue in our society today is teen driver safety. The culture surrounding teenagers and driving is vastly different from the views held by adults. Teenage drivers have been becoming more and more obsessed with being the fastest one on the road. This is a societal issue, as speeding affects every driver on the road. It is an action that only has negative outcomes. Sure, they get to their destination faster, but it increases the chances of crashing. Speeding is a big issue in teen driving, but the leading cause of teenagers’ crashes is driver inexperience. We can reduce both with driver’s education.
Driver’s education can be used to help teens learn more about driving and how their actions can affect others. It can reduce driver inexperience because they would gain more knowledge on driving. Whether it be pen and paper work, or practicing driving with an instructor, it would make them smarter and teach them more solutions to situations they can find themselves in while on the road. It could teach them not to participate in distracted driving, driving under the influence, and so much more. Driver’s education could also help teens who speed for fun. They could be shown videos that show the outcomes of speeding. Once they see a video of a big crash or something along those lines, they would not want to speed as much in fear of becoming like the video.
Some of the biggest challenges teens face today are the two that I’ve already mentioned. They can overcome driver inexperience by just spending more time on the road with a trusted driver, like their parents or a sibling. While they practice driving, they should be taken on a multitude of different types of roads and in different conditions, just so they can learn and figure out what to do in those situations. If the teen was never taken on a highway while it was snowing, they wouldn’t know what to do and could slide on black ice, for example. If they were never taken out driving in severe rain, they could drive through a giant puddle and waterlog their engine. Being taken on multiple roads in multiple weather conditions is beneficial in stopping driver inexperience.
Overcoming teenagers speeding is a different beast. Teenagers speed for a variety of reasons: the speed gives them some sort of adrenaline rush, they want to get to their destination as quickly as possible, or they fall to peer pressure and want to be like their friends. No matter the reason, speeding needs to be stopped, as it is very dangerous. To quell the need for speed, teens should be shown the consequences of their actions. They should see crashes caused by speeding. This would “Scare them straight” into not speeding again.
I have observed what distracted and unsafe teen driving can lead to. I’ve seen multiple local news stories about teen crashes and involuntary manslaughter due to reckless teens. A person I knew in my high school was driving recklessly when he swerved out of a car’s way and killed a twenty-year-old woman. Seeing teens on the news and even a student whom I went to school with ruining their lives and others saddens me. If they hadn’t felt the need to speed or check their phone, then they wouldn’t be in jail, or there wouldn’t be someone dead.
I’ve already listed different actions to help combat unsafe driving, but there’s still more that can be done. To start with, teens need to take personal accountability when it comes to driving. They need to make a conscious effort towards keeping the roads safe, or they just shouldn’t drive. To help on a bigger level, schools should take a longer and more thorough dive into driver’s ed. For most teens, they’re first taught about driving in school. Thirteen states don’t require driver’s education before getting a license, but that number should be zero. It’s unacceptable that there can be people who get a driving permit or license without taking any driver’s ed whatsoever. Finally, communities can help with safe driving by just seeing and saying. If a community member knows a teen who consistently speeds, they should take the time to sit down and talk to them. If someone they know personally tells them that speeding is unsafe and not cool, then they won’t want to do it anymore. Speaking to a teen or a teen’s parent about it is the best way to help. It won’t stop it altogether, but it can be the first step to keeping your streets a little bit safer.