DEI Annual Scholarship Essay

There are many things we take for granted in our daily lives, such as clean water, nice pairs of clothes, roofs over our heads, amongst a countless list of other items we can’t even conceive of at the top of our head due to the relative luxuries of western society. Out of all of these items, however, there is one thing in common, the advancement of technology in the past 150 years mostly conducted during the Industrial Revolution has allowed for exponential growth and economic prowess throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. One of the most notable and invaluable advancements is the development of the automobile, allowing for faster and more effective transportation that the world had never gazed its eyes upon before. In the span of a few decades, our world went from railroads and covered wagons to diesel and widespread harvesting of oil across the globe to power the new automobile economic powerhouse. But as history has taught us time and time again, major advancements in technology of any sort almost always come with its own set of major consequences. News reports of car accidents seem to regularly display themselves on our television screens, as lives are either lost or individuals are left either psychologically or emotionally scarred, regardless of whether they were themselves directly part of the endeavor. In South Dakota, our roads (especially our interstates) seem to be littered with “Think!” signs, marking where an individual has lost their life due to an auto crash.

Despite the doom and gloom of accident deaths in the United States, there still remains a great deal of hope in learning to drive safely and making our nation’s highways a much safer place. The first major factor in this issue is to acknowledge the sheer importance of driver’s education among America’s youth. When it comes to reducing the number of car accidents and driver deaths, this education is crucial for young drivers to know the basics of the road, as well as learning it from instructors that have had a very good share of experience of their own when it comes to driving and the occasional very difficult situations that may present themselves. Examples of such curveballs include how to handle difficult weather conditions as well as learning how to properly distinguish when is the right time to break or to turn on or off the road are only two notable examples of the invaluable information that students receive from their instructors during the traditional Driver’s Education course in the United States. An individual that begins their driving journey without these concepts well endowed upon them is only at much more risk of a car accident if they don’t know how to properly discern and make accurate decisions in this kind of situation, not only putting their lives at risk but the lives of those around them in jeopardy as well.

From my point of view, there is only really one way to alleviate the number of driver deaths as it results in the process of driver’s education, and that is to raise the minimum driving age in states where it is only 14 up to at least the ages of 15 or 16. These years are instrumental in the development of the adolescent brain, especially when it comes to the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that is responsible for reasons and decision-making. This neurological development is crucial in the ability of one to conduct themself when they are on the road, with accurate decisions being the determining factor in life or death situations daily across not only the nation but across the world. A personal experience on the subject I would like to share is when I was 16 years old and had just completed my Sophomore year of high school. I was driving in the Walmart parking lot very shortly after the school year had ended, and as I was turning in I miscalculated the speed of a minivan that was ahead of me and I got t-boned from that vehicle (which was for some reason going 30 miles per hour in a parking lot). My car was totaled and both of the side airbags were deployed. The saying that car accidents happen in the blink of an eye couldn’t have been more validated to me than in that moment. One miscalculation was all it took to cause such an extreme car accident, I was very fortunate that no one was hurt in that situation and law enforcement showed up shortly after it had occurred to resolve matters.

Decisions like these are made every day on our roads, and they almost always carry an extreme set of potential consequences along with them. As a driver myself, I learn as best as I can from my mistakes and I know I am becoming a better driver almost daily. But in retrospect, I see a lot of my earlier teen years as a time when my brain just wasn’t capable of the quick-thinking required to drive in a high-population area, and that lack of brain development is the sole reason why I think all states should raise the driving age from 14. Being able to make these decisions will ultimately contribute to not only increased driver safety but for the well-being of our nation as a whole.