Was there more too it?

I was driving down a narrow road, my sweaty hands gripping onto the steering wheel. A million thoughts were racing through my head and I couldn’t decide which one to focus on first. I had just barely learned to drive and gotten off the backroads, and to be completely honest, I didn’t want to be driving at all. But, according to my parents, I had to learn to be able to drive myself to school and be responsible. As I reached a stop sign, I pressed a little too hard on the breaks, slamming my body forward. Trying to regain my confidence I started turning, but then immediately realized I was going the wrong way. According to my father, “ I also didn’t look both ways”, but I honestly couldn’t remember if I did or not. As I tried to switch around, a car came straight at me from the other street and my heart leaped into my throat. I backed up quickly, and the person behind me began honking. My dad was yelling, the man behind me was yelling, and I was yelling at myself. With tears welling up in my eyes and blurring my vision, I quickly stopped the car, unbuckled and asked my dad to switch seats.

So why did this happen? Was it because I wasn’t educated enough to be driving, or was there more to it?

In my opinion, not only did I not feel educated enough to be driving on the roads with other cars at that time, but I also didn’t feel confident enough. Yes, knowing all the rules and regulations of the roads is very important, but if you don’t want to be in front of the steering wheel and you are scared to be driving, knowing the rules doesn’t matter. Your chance of getting into an accident increases drastically if you aren’t confident in yourself as a driver. At the time that my small incident occurred, thankfully no one got hurt, but they definitely could have. And that is only because I knew I wasn’t ready to be driving around others, yet I did anyway. I can tell you now, that if this incident had occurred a few months, or even a year later, none of it would have happened. I wouldn’t have been scared in front of the wheel, because I would have actually felt prepared instead of pressured and stressed.

So not only is it extremley important to be educated and prepared before getting on the road, but it’s also important that you are trusting in yourself as a driver. Driving isn’t something to be taken lightly. According to the Centers of Disease Control, more than 32,000 people are killed a year in vehicle crashes. This is why it’s so important to learn to be safe on the road but also be a relaxed and confident driver. We must take steps to make sure that we are educated about driving safety and aren’t pressuring new drivers who aren’t ready yet to drive around other people and put their lifes in danger.

So when we think back to my incident that occurred at that stop sign, did it happen because I wasn’t educated enough to be driving, or was there more to it?