Normalizing smart driving in high school

It seems to be a trend in high schools for students to get their license and immediately disregard everything they were taught about safe driving. Once teenagers experience the freedom of driving without adult supervision, they change their driving behavior to “fit in” with other students. Every year, thousands die in car related accidents. I think it is important for teachers, coaches, and mentors that these students admire, to consciously emphasize driver safety. We need to stop holding back from the harsh realities. The only way these students will understand how important it is for them to be smart on the road is to educate them on the potential consequences.

First, I think it is crucial to make the target audience high school students. Why? High schoolers are just learning how to drive so educating them on driving safety at the beginning stages of their driving careers could potentially reduce car related deaths. Also, high school is required so even if they don’t want to be there, it is a guaranteed place to have an audience of young drivers. Adults with full time jobs and families are less likely to take time to be educated on driver safety. If we target the younger audience, the potential to reduce the death rates from car accidents would be much greater.

I have been in the passenger seat with a careless driver many times. Almost all of my friends never hesitate to look at their phone while they drive, some completely disregard the speed limits. One of my close friends said that she watches Netflix while she is driving. I always speak up when I am uncomfortable because the driver is not only putting their own life at risk but also anyone else in the car, and anyone else on the road. Thankfully, I have never been involved in a car accident myself but I know many people who have lost so much at the hands of careless driving.

I sometimes catch myself getting distracted by someone walking their dog on the sidewalk or something irrelevant. I am going to be more conscious of my distractions and catch myself before I engulf myself into the distraction so I can focus on the road. As for others, I always speak up when I notice they are speeding, or getting uncomfortably close to the car in front of us, or they are more concerned about hitting the high note in the Ariana Grande song that’s playing than they are about stopping at the red light. If anything were to happen and I didn’t speak up about these things I would feel guilty even though I was not behind the wheel.

Drivers education is crucial to reducing car related deaths and it should not only be taught in a two week drivers ed course required for teenagers to get their permits. Driving should be taken seriously since we are giving teenagers access to something capable of unspeakable damage.