Safe Driver; Living Driver

December 13, 2021. As a sophomore, I had just competed in the first of the season’s wrestling tournaments. Our team did great, and we were on track to repeat last year’s state championship. That night, a senior wrestler was in a single-vehicle car wreck at two in the morning. The team was notified later that morning and we went to the hospital to support his family. We soon found that our trip was to say goodbye. That senior, who was on track and predicted to win an individual state championship, who was planning to go to college in just a few months after prom and graduation, passed away. We mourned. We grieved. We comforted each other, even though no one felt comforted at all.

That was almost two years ago, and I don’t know the cause of the accident. I don’t know if anyone does. There have been rumors, but from all I’ve heard, that friend was driving sober. He was the type to take care of his body, a serious athlete. This event had a huge impact on the way I think about driving.

As I approached turning 16, my parents told me that I couldn’t drive independently until I passed a local driving course. Of course, I’d already passed the state’s written test to get my driving permit, but that and passing the state’s skills test wouldn’t be good enough. The driving course was intense. I spent my Saturdays doing 6-hour online synchronous classes. Then, I had to do 8 hours of driving with an instructor in a bigger city. I learned to drive in more complicated circumstances than in my hometown. Finally, I had to pass both another written test and another skills test to complete the course. It was all worth it. I’ve had people who ride with me say that I’m the safest teen driver they’ve ever been with.

Through the driving course, I learned many skills that weren’t in the state handbook that was supposed to prepare me to drive. In fact, I learned safe driving tips that my parents didn’t even know. It’s amazing that for something as dangerous and important as driving a car that we as a state and nation don’t require a standard driving education experience. Friends who have taken other courses tell me they spend most of their time listening to lectures or driving a golf cart. I’m sure both of these methods provide some instruction, but not like actually driving for hours solo with a trained instructor. To standardize driving instruction, we should standardize instruction for the instructors. I’ve heard this called “train the trainer” by teachers. Driving doesn’t stop at state lines. Even though states have different laws, we must all share roads across the nation. Having a standardized training for driving instructors would improve the kinds of classes provided to new drivers.

While it would be a big ask to require driving classes for all drivers, it’s also probably the step most likely to reduce accidents and deaths. Many things that are right aren’t easy. This is a place where we should choose the harder right instead of the path of least resistance or the path of traditional ways of doing things. Being well trained to drive is at least as important as a driver’s age. We don’t allow ten-year-olds to drive because they aren’t mature enough to handle the responsibility, but not everyone who is mature has the requisite skills. We should set in place systems of drivers education that ensure drivers have the skills they need to drive safely.

It’s almost cliché to write it, but one of the biggest hazards to driving remains distractions, particularly electronic distractions. This was stressed in the driving program I was in, and I am meticulous to ignore my phone while driving. Fortunately, I don’t drive very long distances now. It’s not difficult to wait until I arrive at my destination to check a text that pings while I drive. I’ve heard that the campaign to reduce smoking in the 1970s was very effective. Perhaps we should start an aggressive campaign like that to reduce distracted driving. People in the 1970s knew smoking was dangerous, but it wasn’t until there was a straightforward campaign to reduce it that numbers really started to fall. An aggressive PSA strategy against distracted driving has the potential to make the roads safer and literally save lives.

I often drive down the road where my wrestling friend wrecked and later died. His family has placed a cross at the spot of the accident and they often put flowers and balloons there to remember him. Each year, our coach leads us to remember him at the wrestling banquet. I’m glad his memory is honored, but it would be a lot better if he weren’t a memory, if he were still here with us. The best way to honor him, and others who have died too soon, is to reduce the number who are lost to accidents.