Saving the Future through Better Driver Education

The importance of driver education is difficult to understate. In the dede of the 2010s, over 18,000 people aged 15-20 died behind the wheel of their own car. Add in the passengers in their cars, as well as deaths of other motorists and pedestrians, and the number balloons to nearly 50,000. If we consider the injured and the friends and families of victims, the number of people affected by poor teen driving is hundreds of thousands per decade. If teen car accidents were a disease, they would be a pandemic. And, just like the current pandemic we are fighting to defeat, we should use all of our resources to reduce the deaths and injuries from teen driving as much as possible.

There is good news in the teen driving pandemic—deaths of teen drivers are falling. In 2010, nearly 2,000 teen drivers died behind the wheel. By 2019, that number was just over 1,600. A 20% reduction is impressive, and should be applauded. Deaths of passengers of young drivers is down significantly, too. But, if this reduction is possible, how much more could we do? And what are the causes of this reduction? You may be tempted to think that safety equipment in cars may be playing a role, and it is likely to have made some impact. However, over the same time period, the deaths of occupants of other vehicles was mostly unchanged. That suggests that safety equipment isn’t playing a major role. If it was, then occupants of other vehicles would be dying less frequently as well. It seems more likely that the significant reduction in teen driver and passenger deaths can be attributed to fewer single-vehicle accidents. In other words, teen drivers are getting better at not hitting trees or flipping their cars into a ditch. This is likely as a result of better driver education.

What can we do to continue this trend? First, we can expand graduated driver licensing laws. My home state of Michigan has instituted significant restrictions on teen drivers. Others, like Mississippi, have done less in this regard. Mississippi is one of the most dangerous states in the country for teen driving fatality, far more so than Michigan. The federal government can make road funding contingent on graduated license requirements, much like they do with speed limits and other road safety regulations. Perhaps the most important aspect of these restrictions would be limits on teen night driving. A significant fraction of deaths are caused by inexperienced drivers at night, and many states have few or no restrictions on teen nighttime driving. This simple step would make a big difference in reducing not just teen deaths, but total deaths.

Despite being too young to drink, nearly a quarter of drivers under 21 who died in a car accident had alcohol in their blood. Reducing access to alcohol for underage people, and also increasing educational awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving, could make a significant impact on highway deaths, especially for younger drivers. Similarly, many vehicular deaths result from the driver or passengers being unrestrained. Despite mandatory seatbelt laws, many young people choose not to wear them. Education plays a major role here: young people need to know that their risk of dying in a car accident increases dramatically if they are unrestrained.

In addition to these changes, I would also target driver education specifically to young men. Young men are nearly three times more likely to die in an accident than young women. This difference can’t be caused by unsafe vehicles—it is the behavior of young men that is making the difference, primarily speeding and alcohol use. Helping young men through education targeted specifically to them could make the biggest impact of any I have mentioned here.

I have been extremely fortunate to never have been involved in a major car accident. However, I have seen my friends drive irresponsibly. Just recently, several students were “doing donuts” in our student parking lot after a heavy snow. The people involved likely thought the risk was low, but it wasn’t — someone, particularly a pedestrian, could easily have been killed. There were many people around, and it was only good luck that no one was hurt or killed. A quick look at YouTube will find you thousands of “Idiots in Cars” videos that show just how irresponsible drivers can be.

I can’t control other drivers, but there are three things I can do to help other drivers, particularly young drivers, to drive more safely. First, I will serve as an example. I can always wear my seatbelt, drive safely and at or below the speed limit, and follow the restrictions on my license. I will never drive impaired or tired. Second, I will do all I can to prevent people I know from making these mistakes. If a friend isn’t wearing a seat belt or looks tired, say something. I will tell them to buckle up or offer to drive for them. Life is too precious to waste it over something as trivial as a seat belt. Finally, I will volunteer and vote for candidates who support safer driving laws. This is something everyone can do, and it doesn’t cost anything. Laws save lives, and better laws save more lives. The government works for us, so when I can vote this November, I will vote for politicians who will expand safety laws.