The Importance of Driver Education and Awareness

The early nineteenth century marked a transition between the post-Industrial American nation and the Roaring Twenties, and cars were heavily involved. Cars were marketed as something deeply American: they brought freedom and independence. As a result, driver education classes were implemented nationwide in order to educate individuals about the roads. The first formal driver training course was offered by the school district in Gilbert, Minnesota, followed six years later by Ms. Amos Neyhart at the Pennsylvania-based State College high school (Tate). However, in the eighties, a study called driver education courses into question; as a result, many states revoked these programs. Currently, only 32 states require driver education in order to get a license. However, in a new and exhaustive study conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, it was shown that drivers between the ages of 15-18 who have not undergone drivers education would be 24 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal or injury-inducing accident, and 16 percent more likely to have an accident (Reed). The reason why driver education classes aren’t universal is because of the lack of funding in many public schools, added to the societal thought that driving can be taught by a parent, or another guardian, more effectively than a trained professional. Although the UNL study only targeted the state of Nebraska, other promising studies come to the same conclusion: driver education — especially in younger populations — reduces the number of vehicular deaths. 

Since 1997, every state has implemented graduated licensing laws, otherwise known as GDL systems. These laws are intended to restrict what new drivers can and cannot do, and they include time restrictions, number of other passengers in the car, etc. In a report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it was found that ever since these laws were instituted, the teenage death rate had gone down (Mohn). However, despite the GDL systems, there is no comprehensive national requirement for driver education. Instead, there are guidelines set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but these are not compulsory, therefore leaving driver education and graduated licensing laws up to individual states. We can consider two different states: Connecticut—which requires driver education to get a license—and South Carolina, which does not. In 2020, Connecticut had 0.9 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, whereas South Carolina had 1.97 deaths per 100 million miles traveled (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

However, lack of driver education is not the only thing leading to more vehicular deaths. Other important factors include the use of seat belts and the increase of drunk driving. In a survey conducted by the Institute of Public Policy at the University of Missouri in 2007, researchers Jeremy Diener and Lilliard E. Richardson found that teenage attitudes towards wearing seat belts were incredibly indifferent. In Missouri, although 10 percent of drivers are under the age of 21, they account for 29 percent of the total amount of traffic crashes (Diener, Richardson). Moreover, Missouri law requires drivers to wear seatbelts, but the penalty of not wearing one is more tricky: Missouri police officers cannot stop a vehicle for the sole purpose of a passenger not wearing a seat belt, the vehicle must be stopped for another offense. In Diener and Richardson’s study, it was shown that over fifty percent of teenage drivers did not regularly use seat belts (Diener, Richardson). As a teenager myself, I’ve often heard my peers say that seatbelts are “unnecessary”, or that they simply “forgot”; additionally, in my driver education course, seatbelt safety was not stressed as much as other factors. In order to combat this, there should be mass media campaigns targeting the use of seat belts. Moreover, instead of simply giving citations, more strict warnings should be given to those not wearing seat belts.  

In society—specifiically high school—alcohol is treated like some secret method of fun. I’ve heard multiple of my school peers boast about their alcohol-induced exploits, and then driving home drunk. Most teenagers would rather risk a car crash then to tell their parents about drinking. As per CDC Data, around one in ten high schoolers drink and drives, and are 17 times more likely to get in a devastating car crash when their BAC is greater than 0.08% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). However, due to mass media campaigns, teenage drinking and driving has decreased by nearly a half over the past three decades. But, it still doesn’t help that nearly a quarter of teenage vehicle-related deaths are related to alcohol. Another preventative method would be to to include parents in the conversation. In a Yale-led study, Dr. Federico Vaca found that there was a difference between the amount of alcohol-related deaths of teenagers who tell their parents about leisure activities, and those who don’t. As teenagers approach their later teen years, parents often use a hands-off approach, but in the case of drunk driving, it should be the opposite. Dr. Vaca found that seniors in high school whose parents had expressed disapproval of drinking, it would decrease the likelihood that they would drive a vehicle while drunk by 30% (Belli). 

During my Drivers Education Class, my teacher asked my class how many vehicular accidents we had been in. At six accidents, I had the most in the class, with two of them resulting in a fracture in my arm, and another in my leg. Despite the numerous car accidents I’ve been in, it’s been hard to shake off the habit of distracted driving. Looking upon highway signs that said, “Put the phone down” or “U drive, U text, U pay,” I never thought distracted driving would be an issue for me; as a stickler for safety, driving while focused on my phone never struck me as behavior that I would one day emulate. As my mother often says, “It’s in the small things.” When driving, I’ve failed to account for the many instances of distracted driving: whether it be to change the music on my phone, respond to my parents’ “When are you coming home?” texts, or animatedly singing along to the song lyrics. Ever since I received my license a few months ago, I find myself swerving the lanes, or forgetting to hit the indicator, or in the most frightening circumstances, almost getting into a car accident myself. 

In order to tackle my distracted driving problem, I put my backpack (where my phone is located) in the backseat pocket of the car. In that way, my phone will be out of my reach. Moreover, if I am driving alone, I’ve decided to switch to listening to podcasts instead of music—that way, I will no longer be inclined to sing along to any lyrics or be preoccupied with switching music, as podcast episodes are often in a linear order. Even when I’m driving with someone else, I’ll give my phone to them, and reinforce my rules about any other form of distracting entertainment. However, learning about my distracted driving patterns is not enough—I need to be able to share and enforce this ideology to others. As a teenager, I have the power to influence other teenagers (who are often prone to distracted driving). As a soon-to-be freshman at college, I will now also have a forum where I can properly describe the minute details of distracted driving, drawing from my own experience. 

After all, it’s better to prepare and prevent, not repair and repent.

Works Cited

Belli, Brita. “Yale-Led Team Finds Parents Can Curb Teen Drinking and Driving.” YaleNews, 

Yale University, 9 Jan. 2020, 

https://news.yale.edu/2020/01/09/yale-led-team-finds-parents-can-curb-teen-drinking-and-driving. 

Diener, Jeremy, and Lilliard Richardson. “Attitudes Toward Seat Belt Use Among Urban & 

Rural Teens.” CORE, University of Missouri, 31 Dec. 2007, https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/2573/AttitudesTowardSeatBeltUse.pdf. 

“Fatality Facts 2020: State by State.” Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Insurance Institute 

for Highway Safety, https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state. 

Mohn, Tanya. “The Mixed Bag of Driver Education.” The New York Times, The New York 

Times, 22 June 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/automobiles/the-mixed-bag-of-driver-education.html. 

Reed, Leslie. “Study: Driver’s Ed Significantly Reduces Teen Crashes, Tickets.” University of 

Nebraska-Lincoln News Releases, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 13 Aug. 2015, https://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2015/08/13/Study:+Driver%27s+ed+significantly+reduces+teen+crashes,+tickets#:~:text=Young%20drivers%20who%20have%20not,an%20accident%2C%20the%20study%20showed. 

Tate, Robert. “Remembering the Early Days of Driver’s Education.” MotorCities, MotorCities, 

17 Apr. 2017, https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2017/remembering-the-early-days-of-driver-s-education. 

“Teen Drinking and Driving.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, 2 Oct. 2012, https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/teendrinkinganddriving/index.html.