Hold On to Your Seatbelts

Hold On to Your Seatbelts

As teenagers, we feel inferior and inadequate almost 99.99999999% of
the time. Peer pressure piles up and parental pressure smushes us
down. Academics and the fear of failure is constantly ringing in our
ears. Not to mention the ever-present looming “adult life” right
around the corner. On top of that harmonies are flying in every
direction and oozing out of our pores. It’s kinda suffocating. It
also means we spend a lot of time trying to prove our worth. One way
is through driving. Nowadays driving is not a partially hard thing to
do. We don’t drive a stick shift, the car is probably smarter than
us, and we have Google maps on the ready. In a perfect world, with
advancements like these, there would be no accidents. But we don’t
live there. Equipping an individual with defensive driving skills and
road knowledge is a necessary step to ensure that negligence on the
road won’t happen as frequently.

In order to ensure our safety, we need to know more than just the
basics. Us teenagers are the kings and queens of knowing just the
basics. It is the fastest way we can achieve our goals and feel
adequate. Once we know the basics we tend to get carried away and
develop a superiority complex. This false security leads to a
laissez-faire
approach to driving which leaves us susceptible to
errors in judgment. I have never personally been in a car wreck.
However, in the past two years, in my friend group of 16 people, 10
of them were in a serious accident. Before the wreck, a majority of
those friends swore up and down that they were the “best and safest
drivers”. Only four of my friends went through a driving school to
get their license. While it’s not certain, had more of them learned
about the importance of being a safe driver, maybe they would not
have been as reckless and therefore would not have gotten in those
accidents. We believe having a basic understanding of driving is
enough to qualify us as experts. The sad reality is that it does not
and it ends up hearting us and our community. Increasing our
knowledge beyond the basics won’t solve our inclines but it will
increase our awareness and safety.

Having competent drives will make our roads safer. The University of
Nebraska– found that young drivers are, “24 percent more likely
to be involved in a fatal or injury accident and 16 percent more
likely to have an accident”. Ensuring people are equipped with the
proper knowledge will make our roads safe. How can we do that? Make
drivers ed required and available. We can make the
qualifications harder or create learning simulations. I can help
increase road smarts by getting involved in my school. Clubs like Key
Club and NHS hold weekly meetings with visitors who talk on a
specific topic. I can invite a guest speaker to speak about driving
safely.