Everyone seems to be trying to move as fast as they can. Computer processing speeds have increased, hockey players are skating faster than ever, and communicating with loved ones can be done in seconds. Naturally, we as a society have evolved and adapted to expecting many tasks to be done in a quick manner. However, when it comes to learning new skills, like how to drive, we can’t approach it with the same expectation. We can’t expect ourselves to be able to drive on the highway the first time we sit in a driver’s seat, and we can’t expect to learn everything about driving in less than a month. It takes a lot of time and patience to become a responsible driver, but patience is often something eager teens lack.

Many parts of the teenage brain aren’t fully developed when they learn to drive, which could increase their risk behind the wheel. For example, a not fully developed cerebellum, which observes emotions related to fear and pressure, can lead to reckless behaviour. This could’ve contributed to the over 9,000 Canadian teens injured on the road in 2021 according to Transport Canada. The temporal lobe is responsible for a lot of our memory skills, so this not being fully developed can cause teens to have a hard time learning and memorizing road rules. A frontal lobe that isn’t fully developed can lead to a lack of emotional maturity, impulse control, and patience. Since many driving programs in Canada can take nine months or more to complete, teens may feel impatient or frustrated that they have to wait and practice for so long.

I grew up in the province of Manitoba, and our driver’s education program is called Driver Z. In Driver Z, every student enrolled has to complete around 29 online modules before beginning classes. Then, there’s 20 hours of in-class or online lessons, followed by a knowledge test. After that test is passed, students begin 14 hours of in-car lessons with their learner’s license. Once they have that license for nine months and have done a minimum of 45 practice hours, they can take a road test. If they pass that, they get an intermediate license and can drive by themselves with some limitations. The process seems like it’ll never end at first, but I think it ensured my full understanding of the rules of the road and my driving skills.
Although I enjoyed and benefited from the structure of Driver Z, a lot of people in my school didn’t seem to like it. My fellow classmates were very vocal about wanting to get their licenses, and when they did, they made sure everyone knew. It seemed as if getting your license was a status symbol in itself. Since the course was nearly a year long, many people just started it as soon as they were fifteen and a half. It didn’t matter whether they had the time to actually learn everything and practice a lot, they just wanted to get it done. As a result, I often heard stories about people faking practice hours and cheating on the online modules. Even when it came to the road tests, many of my classmates booked the first available date they could, and just took the test as many times as they needed until they passed. This usually meant that people hadn’t actually studied for their test throughout the nine months they could, but instead crammed in the days before. While this did turn out to be a semi-successful way for some people to get their licenses, a lot of people ended up getting tickets and fines because they didn’t learn and understand the rules. The fines I heard about were speeding, driving while using a cell phone, and failing to wear a seatbelt. Although these fines are common among all age groups, I think a lot of new drivers in their teens could easily avoid them by paying attention and putting more effort into their driving lessons.
Due to this culture around driving at my school, I felt quite pressured to begin Driver Z. I started my program in October of eleventh grade just before I turned sixteen. At that point, I was taking five AP classes and working a part-time job, so I found it difficult to manage all the work and along with my other commitments. I was tempted to start to use some of the habits my classmates had in the program, but I continued to try my best to learn and understand the rules properly. For practice hours, I found pockets of time between school and work to run errands with my mom so I could drive. Eventually it accumulated to the 45 hours I needed, and then I did extra practice on some skills I struggled with like parallel parking. By the time I could take my road test, a lot of friends and classmates were asking me, “Maya, why don't you just book it and see how it goes?” I didn’t want to be like the others at my school who did the bare minimum to pass. Instead, I wanted to pass the first test I took to prove to myself that I can be a safe and responsible driver. While everyone was telling me to just take a test already, I took the time to point out my driving weaknesses and fix them. I’m very happy to report that I passed my first driving test last August, and have continued to practice safe driving over the past year.
Unlike me, a lot of people at my school rushed to complete their driver’s education programs, but the rush doesn’t stop after they get their licenses. There are countless behaviours drivers often engage in that involve getting from point A to point B in a “faster” manner. These behaviours include tailgating, ignoring the right of way, honking, cutting off other drivers, changing lanes erratically, and shouting or giving rude gestures to other drivers. While all of these behaviours are dangerous, one of the most destructive and threatening behaviours is speeding.
Speeding is defined as going over the posted speed limit in an area, and is one of the most common yet dangerous driving behaviours. I knew about five people from my school who got speeding tickets at some point, so I’m hyperaware of my speed at all times. A 2024 national survey by the Canadian Automotive Association (CAA) reported that 50% of Canadians admitted to regularly speeding on the highway, and 70% of Canadians have sped in a residential area in the past year. This implies that many Canadian drivers do not think of speeding as a dangerous behaviour, or that it’s not as serious of an issue as they think.
In 2020, a delivery driver operating a semitruck on the highway sped through a stop sign, resulting in a crash between the truck and a passenger vehicle. The man in the passenger vehicle was found dead at the scene. This year, there was a retrial for the case. My law class visited the Provincial Court of Manitoba for a field trip, and my friends and I attended the closing remarks. I didn’t know a lot of the details they were talking about, but I could understand the basic idea of the case. We sat in the middle of the public viewing section, and there were two groups on either side of us. One side looked similar to the accused, which means the other side must’ve been the family of the deceased. A woman, looking similar to the age of the deceased, was hunched over and crying silently. I quickly realised that she was the widow. Before we went to the law courts, I thought it would only teach me about the way trials work. Instead I realised the amount of damage that one reckless behaviour causes: a death, a grieving widow and family, and another family hoping their loved one won’t be imprisoned for life. I was an outsider watching people’s lives fall apart, and I couldn’t help but feel awful for being grateful that I wasn’t one of them.
If someone asked me for one piece of advice when it comes to driving, it would be to take it slow. Whether they’re trying to get their license as soon as they can or driving over the speed limit to get to their destination a few minutes faster, I’d ask them if rushing is worth it. When people are working on their driver’s education, I’d recommend that they take their time and make sure that they fully understand what they’re doing. Speeding rarely ends up actually getting people where they need to be faster, so I’d recommend just taking your time and being diligent and patient while driving. Daily driving isn’t a competition, but rather a responsibility that everyone on the road has. Next time someone you know is trying to justify their driving habits that may endanger themselves and others, ask them: What’s the rush?