These are stories concerning teen drivers that have affected me. The names in this essay have been altered to protect their privacy.



The most dangerous distraction I have encountered while driving (because it is so underestimated) is a friend in the passenger seat. I have had one close call while driving with my friend Addison, soon after I had received my license. We had a simple route planned on a sunny, blue sky day;
“There’ll be no problems,” I reassured myself driving down the road to pick her up. It was the first time I had driven Addison around before by ourselves.
“We’ll just go get smoothies and be back before we know it,” little did I know I was bringing the worst obstacle I could have possibly chosen, my best friend down a busy crowded road. I picked her up, and we made it to the shop. We were chatting along the way, innocent enough, right? I pulled off into the parking lot and found a spot facing the rushing road, but just as I was about to turn off the car, I saw the lines hugging my wheels.
“Oh that’s really bad parking, maybe I should retry,” I exclaimed to my friend with my head out the window. I didn’t want to seem like a bad parker. So I checked both ways, and all around multiple times, and just when I was sure there were no cars, Addison blurted something that caught my attention, I turned to her and responded. With my hand and foot changing the gears into reverse. These two seconds was all it took. I slowly backed up– without looking again– and…
Bam! I hit a fast moving truck behind me. I felt the car jolt before my foot had time to react. Addison went quiet. My mind started swirling.
No way, he wasn’t there a second ago! What should I do? What if the driver gets upset? I don’t even have insurance yet! I thought, my head pounding– just praying that I wasn’t in a lot of trouble. If anyone was talking, if anything made a sound, I didn’t notice. Only my rapid tempered breaths that swept the oxygen out of the car. My hand shaking on the door handle, dreading the worst. I saw the driver, a woman around 30 get out of the truck which was stationary behind me. Her appearance was contradictory to the impression of the truck. She was slightly taller than me, with mid-length straight brown hair, her clothes were of casual attire consisting of mom jeans and a red button up shirt: sleeves rolled up just before to the elbows. Her face was not one of anger, but scared herself. Her contrary figure set off a wave that forced my panic out, and let relief fill its place. I stepped outside to confront my driver, still terrified of the damage, but feeling slightly optimistic.
It turned out that the woman whose car I had hit was very nice. She was indeed worried about the cars– as well as me–but that was because it was not hers, but her husband’s. As for the damage, the truck she was driving was so large that the end of my car had only hit the front tire. There was no hard feelings, only plenty of us saying
“No I’m sorry,” and “It was my fault.” After I had gotten back in the car with Addison, I was still buried in everything that had just happened.
Thank you Lord, I repeated until I was able to calm down.
This experience, while relatively uneventful, was enough to change my attitude about driving. This confrontation was what I needed to understand how immediate the dangers of driving can be. Not only could I have damaged both cars, but I could have hurt myself, my friend, or anyone in the other car. This alone was able to put me out of driving for a while. Though after replaying the situation over a few times in my head, I came to the conclusion that since nothing bad really happened I should learn from it and continue driving for practice to be prepared the next time a situation like this presents itself. Driving with a friend has the possibility of becoming dangerous because of the consuming stimulants a friend may push on a teenage driver. If the driver becomes overwhelmed by this stimulant, they will be unable to drive safely. This point can be proven by another friend of mine, Sloan.
One night Sloan was driving her four friends down a narrow non lit street road at night. She had taken all the right precautions as she had learned: bright lights on, checking her speed, had everyone buckled up, no phone in sight and so on. As her noisy friends were having a good time on their way through the absorbing darkness of night, Sloan saw her headlights glow on the road starting to slant uphill. As she decided to accelerate on the gas, they dashed past a semi vine covered yellow sign, showing a sharp left turn. Missing the sign, and oblivious to the upcoming turn, she did not slow down. Suddenly, the road ended. She realized the road turned and cranked the wheel hard left, but it was too late. The right wheels had fallen off the road, and so did they. Flipping in the air down a hill in the black of night, thrusted between the air bags and seatbelts, Sloan passed out. She awoke to her friends who had climbed out the back windows after the totaled car had been miraculously stopped from falling off a deadly drop by a single tree. Her side passenger wasn’t so lucky, he was placed in the hospital for a few days. When returning to school, his only injury was shown by crutches.
This accident occurred because of many reasons. One being that it was very hard to see the road and its surroundings because of the lack of light. This led to Sloan not being able to see the yellow left turn sign that was only partially visible to begin with. Another reason was the distractions in the car; with five close friends in one car, it is undoubtedly distracting for Sloan to drive. Her friends could have been not only making noise but moving around, not to mention if they had music playing. All these distractions would be overwhelming for a new driver. If Sloan (and her friends) had more experience driving they could have been more prepared in this situation to act less disruptive while she was driving. As well as to choose a road with better visibility.
Lack of experience and the distraction of a few friends have both proven themselves to be hurdles on the track to success in driving. Though these two accidents were not ever guaranteed to be preventable, there are still ways to avoid such incidents as much as possible. Through completion of drivers education, including gaining experience driving, learning necessary signs and light meaning, and drivers etiquette, new teen drivers will be able to be as prepared as they can for these unexpected situations. If all new teen drivers practice as much as they can driving to get experience– with aid from an adult– it would be very beneficial to the new generations of drivers. Teens should participate in constant vigilance during driving practice to be engaged, as well as creating an environment that allows them to drive with a calm demeanor. With these practice skills, ensuring the new generation of drivers to be safe and comfortable behind the wheel will protect everyone else on the road, creating a safer and more collective world.