The Power of a Story

I recall driving with my dad, and he pointed out a sticker on the rear window of the car directly in front of us. It paid tribute to a life lost at the hands of a careless driver and is an image I carried through my personal driving education and will continue to reflect on as I begin what I hope to be many years of safe driving.

Driver Education, as currently designed, has been proven to reduce the number of collisions and driving related deaths significantly for the 16–18-year-old group in particular, and is especially true during the first two years of driving. Drivers between the ages of 16-18 have the highest rate of fatal car crashes. As research has shown, that rate would be even higher if not for required Driver Education courses. But the questions beg to be asked, “Could the rates be even higher if changes were made to the Driver Education curriculum?” The obvious value of educating young drivers cannot be diminished, and the value of the current Driver Education programs is undeniable, but is there area for improvement? Are there areas that still need to be addressed? If so, what areas of instruction may be beneficial and how should that information be presented?

My dad was the one who took me for my first driving experience. On the backroads in an area in which we lived, he shared with me a driving-related story from his youth. Throughout college my dad worked with teens at a local youth facility. He described to me in detail how on a wet evening, unbuckled in the backseat, one of the teens with whom he worked flew headfirst through the sunroof when the car she was in hit a bridge support at a very high speed. Admittedly, I was taken aback, not just from the sadness of this tragedy, but also with the detail my dad used in telling the story. As much as I’d have preferred a less graphic reflection, I understand now what my dad was trying to accomplish. A story about the untimely passing of someone he once knew that resulted from a young driver’s excessive speed in harsh conditions would not have been forgotten. But without the unwelcome details, would it have been as impactful?

In Driver Education we learn the rules of the road, what different signs mean, how to park uphill, what to do at a yellow light, etc., and these are all certainly important and necessary to understand. But I can’t help but wonder how impactful it might be to share stories similar to the one my dad shared with me. For my 16–18-year age group; a group that still has a certain level of naivety, a detailed and graphic tragic story could give greater perspective to the risks of careless driving. Stories that paint a very vivid picture would be more easily remembered, like a movie with a captivating storyline, an emotional twist, or a perfectly written ending. Detailed accounts of real-life tragedies related to careless driving could go a long way toward ensuring safe driving.

I recall with great clarity the first time I drove solo on a wet road. The story my dad told me was etched in my memory and was as clear as that sticker I saw years before. Intentional or not, my dad prepared me for the dangers of driving recklessly on a wet road, and he did so with one short, though detailed, story. Perhaps had the dad of the driver in the car that claimed the young life of the girl my dad worked shared a similar story, she would now be teaching her own children to drive.

Yes, it was of great importance that I knew to turn when a sign on the side of the road had a curved arrow, and to use caution when passing a blinking light, and to turn my wheel in a certain direction when parking uphill or downhill, but it wasn’t learning about these rules or the various signs that peaked my awareness the evening I got behind the wheel to drive on rain-soaked roads. It was the story.

Young people like myself tend to be more visual. A picture, even in the mind, can hold a great deal of importance, which perhaps should be considered when being educated on driving. My dad and I were recently driving and in front of us a car had a sticker…