Practice Produces Safety

Practice Produces Safety

By Shira Berger

When I was 20 years old, my childhood best friend died in a car accident. He was 19, with his whole life ahead of him. Attending his funeral was one of the most painful experiences of my life; his mom hysterically crying over his grave and his younger sisters hiding their faces in their hands. Accidents like this happen to 34,000 people each year in America. That’s 34,000 families a year sobbing over their loved ones from accidents that could have been avoided by safe driving practices.

The first step towards safe driving is Drivers ed. Currently, only 32 states in the U.S. require teenagers to complete a Drivers ed course prior to taking their written or practical exam. That’s not nearly enough! Drivers Ed should be required especially for teenagers ages 14-19, as they are still learning the dangers of the road. These courses outline important road information and proper safety practices as you begin to operate a vehicle. Included in most Drivers Ed courses is a required number of hours for supervised driving with an instructor and driving with a responsible adult. It’s incredibly important to practice a skill before jumping into the highest level of it. The same works for driving, it should be taken step by step: studying important knowledge to practicing in controlled settings to test driving with a responsible adult to finally driving in a high traffic area or a highway. Too many teenagers are skipping these vital steps and jumping from their quick license exam to being overwhelmed and unprepared on the actual roads. Practice makes perfect, and in this case: practice produces safety!

Drivers ed should also highlight the most common dangerous driving habits for new drivers. In an age filled with technological advances, new drivers should be required to practice keeping their phones out of view and silenced. Unfortunately, it’s an all too common mistake to end up in a car accident after having read just one stupid “LOL” text. There are hand-held phone bans in many states, but again, it should be required in all of them! New drivers should be reminded that using their devices is not just dangerous, but illegal. It’s a shame that some teenagers might need more than that reminder, but also to know that any accident they get into (big or small) can cost a ton of money! Insurance isn’t cheap, and it only gets more expensive as accidents accrue. Additionally, teens should be provided with resources for designated driver’s services in their area. In this course, they should also hear about ways to have an open conversation with their families on how to contact them during times they feel unsafe or too inebriated to drive. It’s incredibly important that any new driver has an accessible back-up plan in case things get out of control and they need a sober/less distracted/safer driver. That means, parents or legal guardians should be required to make a written agreement with their teenager that states they will help them in those moments without judgement. This ensures that teens start out on the right foot with support before moments arise where their own judgment is compromised. Having an understanding in place for families with new drivers can reduce the occurrence of accidents on the road.

Outside of Drivers ed, we need to be role models of best practices every time we get into a car: people learn by watching. New drivers pick up on our habits, and it’s essential we are teaching them all the right things in order to stay safe. It takes only one person who isn’t committed to safety to lose a life. It only takes one second and someone’s childhood best friend is gone.