How The GDL Program Helped Me Learn

I am a self-proclaimed bad driver. It is not due to a ack of education, but due to diagnosed general anxiety. However, I am extremely grateful for the in-depth driver education I received. It has allowed me ample time to realize – in a safe setting where I could not endanger myself or others – that I need to be very careful behind the wheel. In fact, I cared so much more about driver education than any of my friends who found it easier expressly because I was not a natural.

I look good on paper. I aced the driver education program offered by my high school, one of the top programs in the state, got a 100% on my driving test, and have a pretty clean driving record. The main problem that I struggle with is decision fatigue. Continuously making decisions where people’s safety lies in the balance is exhausting and stressful. At a certain point, I stop making good decisions and start making more questionable ones. Then, people inevitably begin honking at me which causes me to become overwhelmed. The more overwhelmed I am, the worse decisions I make. It’s a vicious cycle. The only way for me to calm down is take the first opportunity to pull over and listen to some calming music. Once I have cleared my head I can go back on the road and start making good decisions again. This process is not helped by having distractions like phones and friends in the car. That is why I will forever be thankful to the Graduated Driver Licensing program.

I grew up in Illinois where we have a pretty comprehensive GDL program. Before getting your license, you must pass written and vision tests, be enrolled in a state-approved driver education program, and complete 50 hours of driving (including 10 nighttime hours) supervised with a parent or guardian (The State of Illinois). Once you have gotten your license, there are age-related restrictions on things like cell phone use and how many people you are allowed to have in the car with you under the age of 25 (The State of Illinois). I believe these restrictions saved my life on multiple occasions.

Firstly, all the supervised driving time was invaluable to me learning how experienced drivers made decisions. Being able to be critiqued in a non-threatening way (unlike learning from people honking) by people I trusted was helpful in creating a less anxious setting. Secondly, the restrictions made me more critical of how other drivers used their cell phones while driving. I started calling out my friends and family members on their cell phone use. Armed with facts from driver education classes, I refused to drive with someone who was on their phone behind the wheel.

Thirdly, I realized very quickly after I had aged out and could drive my friends that I was much less focused when too many were around. Between them talking to me loudly, playing loud music, and trying to pressure me into going over the speed limit, it took everything in me to concentrate on making safe decisions. My decision making was more impaired by distractions than by decision fatigue! This first hand experience is backed by facts from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: “for [teenage] drivers, the presence of one passenger nearly doubles the fatal crash risk compared with driving alone. With two or more passengers, the fatal crash risk is five times as high as driving alone.” (Illinois GDL Parent Teen Driving Guide, 22). I thought with horror how much worse it could have been to have been so distracted by others at a younger age. Could I have had the strength to resist the peer pressure to drive friends around at 16? 17? I could have very easily been distracted, made a poor decision, and paid a terrible price.

All this knowledge and practice has significantly changed the way I see driving. Before, I saw it as a normal rite of passage. Now, I view it with more solemnity. My education has given me a new understanding of the risks faced by drivers all the time, especially young ones. I am lucky to have grown up in Illinois where driver education is taken so seriously. It truly saves so many lives: “In Illinois, teen driving fatalities have dropped by nearly 51 percent since the new GDL provisions took effect in January 2008” (Illinois GDL Parent Teen Driving Guide, 22). I am glad to know my short-comings behind the wheel so I can take appropriate action and make sure to stick to roads I know well. I would not know myself so well without the help of the GDL program.

Works Cited

“Graduated Driver License.” Graduated Driver License, The State of Illinois, https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/drivers/teen_driver_safety/gdl.html.

Illinois GDL Parent Teen Driving Guide, The State of Illinois, 2020.