On average, about eight teen-aged drivers die each day in the United States in motor vehicle crashes, translating to roughly 2,883 teen fatalities annually. Additionally, about 227,000 teens are injured in car accidents each year. This is a major safety concern for all communities, especially at the beginning of each school year. In smaller Cities and college towns, these concerns are elevated at the start of each school year with new drivers and those that are not from the local area. Drivers are facing new weather conditions, local driving rules and different levels of traffic that they have not been exposed to.
As many students earn their driver’s license/privileges during the summer break and at the start of the school year, they are experiencing traffic at times and in places that they may not have experienced yet. Add to the mix that experienced drivers are now adapting to the increase in traffic and are not always patient with the new drivers on the road. This is a challenge everyone faces on the community roads but not one that a new teen driver would recognize. Although one has driven in their town for years, being a passenger is much different than being in the driver’s seat.
Many passengers find themselves on their phone, taking care of small children or just providing company to the driver. As a passenger, I may not always pay attention to road signs or other directions as I rely on the driver.
During my freshman year, news spread quickly that a student at our neighboring high school was fatally injured in a car accident outside of our school. Hours later, the identity of my childhood friend, Elena, was released as the student driving one of the cars. Icy roads that are a rare sighting in Tucson, distraction by the morning sun she was driving into and potential speed by the other driver were all contributing factors. I keep wondering if any of those conditions, outside of speed, were avoidable and I keep coming back to being prepared.
One cannot prepare for all situations but there are ways to try and mitigate and control what you can. Promoting safe driving starts with us and our schools by encouraging new drivers to practice the driving route weeks before school starts. Parents should encourage their children to learn an alternate route that they can practice in case one road is deemed “safer” based on environmental factors such as ice and flooding. If Elena, had practiced driving to school before that day, would she have known that the sun would be directly in front of her, temporarily blinding her? Would she have experienced the loss of traction as she drove on an icy road which was low lying? I know that we will never have answers, but these are questions that many families that have lost a teen in driving accidents ask themselves and now live with.
The loss of Elena shook our community but after the reporters left, the investigation was over and she was laid to rest, we forgot. As we mourned for weeks and spoke of how things can improve, little action was taken. Communities need to acknowledge and speak up for the new drivers, simple changes such as posting signs outside schools near the closest intersections that remind the community that school is in session. Cities can even reduce speed limits and increase patrols to enforce the school zone rules.
The Tucson Police Department offers a safe teen driving course, but they are very limited to how many can participate. This is a wonderful opportunity that demonstrates that the city is aware that teen drivers need more support, but funding is not unlimited. I need to ask if there is an opportunity here for school districts to offer this, to provide a smaller version of the course so that they can include more “high risk” drivers. The athletes who drive home late from away games, the students that drive in early before school starts before?
My mother tells me about how drivers’ education was offered at her high school and it was a semester long. It included classroom training to learn the laws and rules of the road along with behind-the-wheel practice. It was offered as an elective that was in high demand and of very little cost to the school. Understand that school budgets are different now but having this option would ensure that young drivers are getting all the education possible.
At the age of 18, I do not drive, and I am not sure when I will as I do not feel safe or feel like I am capable of being in control of a vehicle. What I do know is that teen driving is scary, it is a necessary life skill but one that I am not ready to master.