Driver Ignorance is a Pandemic

Ignorance is often bliss for many, however, those people cannot live in bliss forever at the determinant of others..

As a member of gen z, I can confidently and embarrassingly admit that my generation is often ignorant when it comes to many things, one thing of particular importance is driver’s education. Teens and young adults in my generation have high rates of texting while driving, driving under the influence, speeding, wrecks, wrecks with fatalities, and the list can go on and on for ages. I say that ignorance, more specifically driver ignorance, is a pandemic because we have lived through driver ignorance for decades upon decades. The first car was invented on January 29th, 1886 and since then ignorant and reckless drivers have plagued the Earth. I use such harsh wording because what I have noticed is this ignorance is new; this form of ignorance isn’t just “lack of knowledge” it is lack of knowledge with little or no desire to change or fix the ignorance.

My suggestion to fix this ignorance and what steps need to be taken to fix driver ignorance is simple; we need to implement rigorous driving safety programs in schools as well as implementing teaching the harsh truths of the road while being able to keep the interest of those learning the material. I lie to you not, I had friends do driver’s ed courses that lasted around two weeks where instructors breezed through the rules of the road and general car safety and gave them common sense based questions on the exam(s) and handed away licenses and permits as if it was free Halloween candy. Yes, while it is true that you can fail driver’s ed, or your permit/license test, it is quite hard to fail as most questions are yet again common sense based. I have seen my friends, who can’t drive properly, pass their exams and get into wrecks not even a week later due to lack of poor instruction or lack of desire to learn how to drive properly because they “know how to drive.” My suggestion is implementing an intense and rigorous course to change how driver’s ed is conducted; this can include parents speaking about the loss of a child due to reckless driving, guest speakers from organizations who combat issues regarding driving etiquette and things of that nature, etc. Another thing I think that should be implemented is, while it is morbid, scare tactics.

While this came to receive mixed reactions, a Wisconsin high school holds mock crashes to show students the dangers of poor driving practices (source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCPfgpffxso). Scare tactics aren’t always received well, but in my opinion seeing real and raw consequences can scare some people straight. It’s essentially the same concept of the show ‘Beyond Scared Straight.’ It takes teens, on the path to prison and other institutions, to adult prisons to show them how it truly is in prison. Much like driving, someone can tell you all day long texting and driving leads to car crashes and fatalities, but until you see it, hear it, or experience it for yourself, you’ll never change.

That is essentially how I was and scare tactics worked on me and for people who don’t understand the dangers, scare tactics are the only way. Everyone has texted and drove before, especially when it comes to new drivers, and while it was only occasionally when I did it; I never understood the dangers of it. One day my mom told me that my aunt was hit by a drunk driver and was airlifted to a hospital near my university, all the while I would never drive intoxicated or under any influence, I had to realize that texting and driving IS driving under the influence. You’re full attention isn’t on the road and I vowed to never text and drive and I even installed an app called pocket points (it’s an app that you can receive rewards from for not texting and driving and those rewards can range from gift cards, free things, discounts, and onwards) to help combat any urge. That app paired with ‘Do Not Disturb’ has saved my life and many others. While my aunt didn’t pass away, she is in intensive therapy to help regain the ability to walk and do basic things she was able to do before the accident. Her going through that scared me straight because I was so full of hurt and anger at the driver and I couldn’t fathom seeing this person in any setting other than jail. Because of my emotions, I realized that I would never ever want someone else’s family to feel that way about me because of a quick text or just simply not paying 110% to the road. While scare tactics aren’t easy to handle, I think it is something imperative to implement to reduce deaths in the world that are caused by driving and the first and best place to start is at the 9-12th grade level. This is when teens begin to drive so demonstrations like the one from Richland Center High School could be an amazing place to start.

In conclusion, driving is a scary world to navigate, but with the proper tools and methods to teach about safe driving, you’ll never have to navigate that world ignorantly, much less alone.