Learning by Experience

Learning
by Experience

Snow
came down around me as I stood, shivering without a coat, on the
sidewalk. I held back my tears until the 911 operator assured me that
someone was on the way. The tears came as soon as I heard my mom’s
voice over the phone. “Mom…”, I managed to get out, “I got in
a car accident.”

When
a teenager gets in a car accident, everyone assumes that it is their
fault. My parents’ friends, my teachers, even the insurance
company, thought that I was not paying attention, maybe I was on my
phone, maybe I didn’t know to slow down in bad weather. In reality,
the accident was caused by an adult man who failed to stop at a stop
sign. He walked away without a scratch, while I was left with a
totaled car and serious anxiety concerning driving.

Luckily,
I had completed Drivers’ Education just a couple of months before
the accident occurred. So I knew exactly what to do when our cars
collided in the intersection. I pulled my car over onto a side
street, put my hazards on, and jumped out of the car. I ran to the
man’s car to make sure that he was okay. I knew that he caused the
accident, but I stayed calm while he stood in the street screaming at
me. He accused me of being a “stupid teenager that can’t drive”,
but when I told him that I needed to call 911, he fled the scene.

So
I was left alone to call the police, then my parents, then my best
friend who I was supposed to be meeting, then the body shop, then the
insurance company. It was a chaotic two hours for a 17 year old girl
who had never been in an accident before, standing on the sidewalk in
the dark, my fingers going numb and my whole body shaking until the
police left to make a report and the tow truck took my car. I realize
now that without Drivers’ Ed, I would have had no idea what to do.
When the accident happened, I went into shock and the instinctual
knowledge from the class took over.

I
believe that all people should be required to take a Drivers’ Ed
course. Parents can be good teachers, but they cannot cover
everything. I know that my parents did a good job getting me behind
the wheel, but they did not prepare me for half of the situations I
have run into while driving. Learning by experience is fine in most
situations, but when it comes to driving, everyone on the road needs
to be prepared for whatever can and will come at them.

Drivers’
Education taught me how to drive safely and defensively, and prevent
injuries and deaths on the road. I believe that if Drivers’ Ed is a
prerequisite for licensing, there will be far fewer deadly car
accidents.