The lessons that could save a life

 Getting my license was something I had been waiting for forever! At 16 years old I was so excited about finally being able to drive myself to school, dance practice or going to grab a dessert like ice cream without having to ask my parents for a ride. But the first time I finally go to drive by myself it also hit me that I no longer had my parents next to me constantly reminding me to check my surroundings. I was solely responsible for every decision I made behind the wheel. That is why I think driver education is so important. Learning to drive is not just about passing a test or knowing how to park properly. It teaches drivers how quickly one bad decision can affect them, their passengers and other people in their cars or even pedestrians. As a teen there are distractions everywhere. Our phones are always buzzing and going off, our friends are texting us, music is playing and sometimes friends are in the car talking. Before getting my license and being my parent's passenger princess checking notifications and listening to music didn't seem like a big deal. Behind the wheel, EVERYTHING matters. Driver education gives teenagers as well as adults a chance to learn those lessons before they have to learn from a mistake. It teaches us about distracted driving, speeding, following distance, wearing seatbelts and how to react to situations that can happen out on the road. Knowing the rules is super important but understanding why they exist is even more important. I love the freedom that comes with having my license but I am also learning that freedom comes with responsibility. Every time I drive no matter how far it is I'm responsible not only for myself but for everyone around me. Driver education can't prevent every accident but it can help create a safer and more prepared driver. If it makes one teenager or adult put their phone down, slow down, buckle up or think twice before making a risky decision that lesson could be the reason someone makes it home that night.  To me getting home safely to my family is more important than getting anywhere a few minutes faster.  Another thing I've realized since I started driving is that knowing the rules and actually being responsible for a car and your decisions are very different things. When I was a passenger I never paid attention to how long it takes to stop, whether another car could be in my blind spot, what the driver next to us might do. Now those are all things I really do have to pay attention to myself. Driver education helps prepare new drivers for situations we haven't experienced yet. As a new driver, I know that I'm not going to know exactly what to do in every arising situation. That is why learning things like defensive driving and what to do in an emergency is so important.The more prepared I am the better chance I have of making a safe decision instead of panicking. I also think that driver education is especially important for teenagers because sometimes we feel like nothing is going to happen to us. It's easy to be tempted to just look at that one text or just go a little over the speed limit. But an accident doesn't care how far you are away from home or how you only looked away for one second to look at that text. It only takes one bad decision  or a few seconds of not paying attention for something bad to happen.  Something else that driver education has taught me is that safe driving isn't only to about protecting myself. It's about having respect for others. Every car that passes by has a real person in it. It could be a mother or father driving home after work, a family taking their kids to their sport practice, another teenager who just got their license like me or someone's grandparents. I would never want one careless decision that I make to change another family's life permanently. I also cannot control what other drivers do but I can control what I do or how I respond to their actions. Driver education teaches us to pay attention and be alert to what is happening around us and to expect that other drivers may make mistakes. I'm a fairly new driver and I know getting my license does not mean I know everything about driving. I'm going to keep learning every time I get behind the wheel but I feel confident that taking drivers education classes has helped me be as prepared as possible to be a responsible driver.