My palms were sopping wet as I carefully pulled over to change the radio station in my mother’s car. I had always been an anxious kid, but my goodness—learning how to drive was another level of fear I was learning how to conquer. Slowly pulling over to the side of the road in my neighborhood, I shakily found music that was more conducive to focus. As I put the car in drive once edagain, I found myself changing my mind—I absolutely could not focus on driving whilst playing any sort of music. Putting the car back in park, I turned off the radio and took the biggest breath I had that day. I could do this. I could learn how to drive free from anxiety. And so began my journey to becoming a safe driver.
Being a teenager is difficult enough—hormones changing, bodies growing, and identities developing. Throw in driving? What a whirlwind! The truth is, learning how to drive is an essential part of many of our young, developmental journeys. It might be the first time we feel freedom. With this freedom, comes a deep responsibility and commitment to safety. Teen driver safety is an important public issue because it highlights the importance of responsibility in current adults to help and guide young adults in this generational rite of passage. Driver’s education classes and instructors are not just teaching students—they’re shaping the future of driving for all of us. Not only should driver’s education be informative, educators should be active, engaging, and know how to create a safe space for students to learn and grow in their driving skills and confidence. Th best teaching style is one that weaves learning with passion and psychological safety. We need instructors who have the emotional tools necessary to guide young drivers to not just learn a skill, but to feel safe doing so. Learning to drive can be a terrifying experience for many of us; but having instructors who make us feel emotionally safe to learn, grow, make mistakes, and conquer our fears are what will truly help future generations become safe and thriving drivers.
I will say, compared to when I learned how to drive in 2008, there are many more safety features in a vehicle now than back then. Needing to pull over to turn off the car radio is a thing of the past, as we now have steering wheel controls for functionalities such as these. Touch-free and hands-free modalities are more prevalent now than ever before. Safety in vehicles has come a long way, and it is exciting to see further advances in this regard. However, with hands-free functionalities comes additional distractions, such as alerts coming through a car’s infotainment system. What once was only accessible on a phone screen can now be viewed in one’s car. So, although we have moved away from needing to use our hands in checking our text messages in our cars, we are still exposed to quick hits of distraction from these screens in our vehicles.
Developmental psychology tells us that our prefrontal cortex is typically not fully developed until age twenty-five. This is the part of the brain that assists us in judgment and decision-making, impulse control, and attention and focus. Learning to drive before this part of the brain is fully developed can expose teens to slow or delayed judgment when needing to complete functions such as braking, turning, or merging. It can also lead to chaotic impulse controlling behaviors like speeding, road rage, or cutting people off while on the road. Additionally, without a fully developed attention and focal part of the brain, it can be easier for teens to daydream, space out, or text and drive. Despite the science behind these potential “roadblocks,” teens can overcome these challenges by becoming aware of them and working with an experienced driver who they trust to guide them on safe behaviors. The brain looks for patterns, so the more teens can create safe driving routines, the better their brains will learn to create safe driving habits. Teens can also give themselves grace; we’ve all been new at everything we’ve ever learned how to do.
Teens, schools, and communities can all play key roles in facilitating a culture of safety when it comes to driving. Teens can motivate each other to practice safe driving behaviors—peer pressure is real, and sometimes it takes one person at a time to use their influence to promote safer behaviors. Schools can implement driver’s education courses free of charge to eligible students. Communities can create action committees composed of both teens and adults to come together in collaboration to brainstorm ideas for safer driving cultures. Creating a culture of safety needs to be thought of as both a collective and an individualistic effort. It may take a village, but a village is composed of individual citizens. We all have the power to influence a safe driving culture within our own driving, and by guiding young drivers, too.