“In 2021 drivers 20 and under made up 5.1% of licensed drivers in the United States, yet they made up 8.5% of total drivers in all fatal crashes and 12.6% of drivers in all crashes.” This is a statistic posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Obviously, multiple teens are losing their lives daily to unsafe driving and are the leading age group amongst deaths caused by driving. Clearly, teens and people of 21 and under should be taught the importance of safe driving as there’s many angles to view.
Firstly, teen driving safety is an important public issue for a multitude of reasons. Not to mention, the number of teens who travel to school, the gym, work, or even for regular leisure focused activities. Teens including myself are very active, with multiple responsibilities, and this is the time of our lives where we tend to have a lot of fun. But this can also end up bad. For example, a teen could be traveling to a house party with a group of friends, but they’re in the back getting drunk and the driver is peer pressured. Even though the driver has a permit or license, or he’s well educated on driving, being under the influence could easily take all their lives in an instant. Another instance is a teen may be responsible enough to know not to drink and drive, but another teen down the street is an under the influence and proceeds to accidently take both lives. This is just the danger of driving under the influence alone. There’s multiple avenues and factors that can lead right to death besides drunk driving regardless of the teen’s education in driving. Moreover, teen driver safety is an important public issue, because teens make up most of the worlds current drivers and they make up a great percentage of the deaths caused by unsafe driving, if not the most. In addition, teen driving is also an important public issue because as previously mentioned teens are very active in life with multiple things going on and vehicles allow us to do these things, but if we aren’t educated properly or enough to drive or to be driving, it can increase the amount of teen deaths by driving or accidents with people in the vicinity as a whole down the line and in the future. To combat this, driver’s education can help teens acknowledge what’s right and what’s wrong. This type of education can better prepare teens to be on the road, and can prevent more deaths of teens, and people also involved in accidents caused by teens themselves. Obviously, driver’s education comes with many solutions to unsafe driving and can address teen driving safety and can make the world better as a whole. In sum, teen driving safety is an important public issue and driver’s education plays a huge role by addressing it in multiple ways.
Secondly, teen drivers face a multitude of challenges today such as peer pressure, lack of education, lack of seat belt usage, nighttime driving, speeding, lack of focus on the road, and more. However, this can be combated. Teens can overcome all these issues in many ways individually. For starters, teens can attend driving school and get professional lessons in order to understand the importance of safety on the road and just understand how all of it works in general. This can vary from signs, roads, lanes, etc. Similarly, teens can drive with their parents in order to get comfortable on the road and develop good habits with someone well known by their side such as always riding with a seat belt buckled which teens lack. Even then, parents can also ride with teens during night fall and assist them until they feel comfortable instead of just letting teens attend drivers' education and proceed on their own. Lastly, teens must relax and control themselves before seeking driving as too much fun which could lead to danger. More importantly, teens need to seriously consider other drivers and occupants on roads and highways, as not only are other drivers being killed, but even passengers which could consist of infants, the elderly, middle aged, and more. They must understand that minor activities such as speeding doesn’t only endanger themselves, but also other occupants of the road. Moreover, not only could activities like speeding impact people on the road, but also people off the side of the road. This could include homeless people, pedestrians on sidewalks and crosswalks, people in homes, public venues, and more as one singular car can set off a chain reaction impacting many lives. Similarly, peer pressure can lead to the same things. Because not only does peer pressure derive into speeding, but it also derives into common activities such as driving under the influence. Teens, schools, and even communities can take many actions to prevent further harm and endangerment. For example, communities can invest in signs that protect school students and pedestrians such as “ped xing, speed limits, and school zone”. As for schools, they can implement driver education within school campuses to further educate students on the topic, especially those who are already driving. Better yet, these programs can be implemented in elementary and middle school to better prepare students who are bound to become teens for the driving world. Teens including myself can take the initiative to buy paper or digital driver ed handbooks to study for the test and to educate ourselves on driving. In fact, because the world is in the digital age, teens of Generation Z can use resources and tools such as YouTube to further educate themselves on safe driving, and the dangers that come with driving in general. This shows that there are many actions that all of us can take to make driving safer amongst the youth.
Lastly, I’ve made my own observations in high school and have seen teens get in trouble with law enforcement due to unsafe driving. An example of this is how I heard about how a fellow classmate of mine in my junior year of high school missed a day because he had to attend a court hearing for speeding in his Dodge Challenger. Obviously, he’s still a teen, obviously as a brand Dodge makes fast automobiles, not to mention the Challenger, and he fell victim to speeding which is one of the things I previously mentioned. He’s only 17 but had to attend a court hearing due to something as a minor as speeding. However, luckily no lives were taken when he got in trouble, it was just a wrongful act. This clearly shows how us as teens can fall victim to peer pressure and minor activities which could be bad such as speeding. Obviously, we should be more careful and take into consideration our own lives and other lives that we are putting at risk the moment we step into a vehicle because it does come with consequences.
In the end, safe driving is a very important topic for teens, as we lead death rates caused by driving. In conclusion, teens should understand the importance of safe driving and education and understand the consequences that come with unsafe driving.