Driving is a Privilege

The ability to drive is a teenager’s first step to becoming independant. Being able to go out with your friends, school events, or anywhere they want without having to ask permission is empowering. Driving though, does not come without its risks. Every time someone steps into a car, they are at risk of having damage done to either their car or themselves that is sometimes irreversible. This can be caused by external factors, such as a person who is driving under the influence, speeding, or road rage, or they can be caused by internal factors, such as distractions in the car. An excellent way of being informed on how to maintain the safety of yourself and those around you can be achieved by taking driver education classes. These classes help people take the steps necessary to reduce the risk of accidents on the road. Some of the key lessons in drivers education courses teach what is illegal to do while driving, operating a motor vehicle under the influence is the most common example. Driver edicate, for example, learning what to do at an intersection, how to use your blinker, and the rules of the railroad track can help minimize accidents on the road. And finally, learning how to minimize distractions while on the road. Some widely used examples of this are not eating while driving and the most important one, not texting while driving. While I am proud to say that I do not text and drive, I will admit that there are other bad habits I have while driving.

Oftentimes when I am driving I will have music playing. Sometimes, especially when driving by myself, the music will be too loud forcing me to split my attention between the road and the speaker. And because I do not use a subscription based service to listen to music, that means often after a song is over an ad will play, causing me to divert my attention from the road to the “skip ad” button. Both of these habits are not just dangerous to myself, but to the passengers that I am driving and other drivers on the road. One thing that I can do to end this habit is to preset the music playlist and the audio level before I start driving, that way I do not have to worry about changing the volume of the music while driving and no matter how long the drive is, I will always have music playing so I do not have to worry about changing songs mid drive. If I am driving with a passenger I could also ask them to change, skip, or set the audio level of the song for me. While I am driving alone and an ad plays, I will let the ad end naturally instead of skipping it, because at the end of the day my safety and the safety of those around me is more important than the next song on my playlist.

Passengers are also a big source of distraction for me while driving as well, and they do not even have to be in the same car! When seeing someone that I know while driving out and about, I will often focus more on their car than on the car in front of me, competing to be either next to or in front of them. Driving like this is dangerous because I am no longer focused on getting to my destination in a safe manner, but on racing with my friend to get ahead. Some of the passengers that are actually in my car, however, distract me in different ways. Having a conversation is distracting because sometimes I will instinctively turn my gaze over to the person I am talking to, taking my eyes off of the road, or I will touch my passenger which takes one hand off of the wheel. A solution to this is to ask my passengers to give me a punishment every time I take one of my hands off of the wheel or take my eyes off of the road. An example of this would be doing ten push ups for every time I take my eyes off of the road and ten curl ups for every time I take my hand off of the wheel. A solution to my competitive nature that causes me to want to race the friends I see on the road is to remember the speeding ticket I have already gotten by doing that exact thing. I do not want to go through four more months of waiting for a judge, driving lessons, community service, and payments. If that requires me to keep my eyes on the road instead of racing my friends then that is an easy solution to the problem.

Driving is something that I have learned not to take for granted. As the judge who waved my speeding ticket said, driving is a privilege not a right. I would rather not have that privilege taken away from me, so I need to do everything in my power to prevent accidents from happening, and that starts with limiting the distractions in my own vehicle first. Whether that be limiting my music or suppressing my competitive nature, no change is too small when it comes to the safety of others on the road.