Getting Behind the Wheel

You are going 50 mph on State Road 15. You look away for one moment to check the alert on your phone. You look back up. The speedometer now reads 80 mph. You accelerated without even realizing it. Your car spins out of control, flying into a ditch. The car rams into a utility pole. All you see is darkness. Doesn’t this seem awfully dramatic for a hypothetical story? Actually no, this has been a similar reality to many people. Especially to young teens all around: to one in particular. A young man, 16 years old, had almost this exact story happen to him when he was driving at 6 pm on a regular Saturday in Akron, Indiana in 2021. Unfortunately, he did not end up making it. The reality may seem harsh, but safe driving needs to be greatly enforced. The only way to reduce the number of deaths from unsafe driving is to give young adults a better driver’s education program.

Students are given their driver’s education work through online sessions. These sessions are so easy for learning students to bypass important information and cheat through the quizzes. So what value does it give students? Absolutely none. So many people receive no learning experience from this training. What exactly could be a good solution? Well, students work better with hands-on experience. In person classes work so much better than an online course, so just utilizing this alone can make a huge difference. Another huge advancement in the learning curve could be using the content from the books in the behind the wheel part of the course. The students can be in the backseat of the car while another is driving, and the instructor can then give them quiz questions while they sit in the passenger seat. This can give the students more practice with learning how to navigate the road while actually navigating the road. Students need hands-on experience in order to benefit from the information they are being fed.

Not only is navigating the road itself important, but knowing how to make smart decisions about driving is just as crucial. In 2019, the total number of people killed from alcohol-related car accidents was over 200. This amount is ridiculously high. The goal is to get this number down to 0. These lives are taken prematurely. People need to be made aware of the consequences of driving under the influence. This is so important, and all students should go through an in person lesson on why this is illegal. They need to be given real life examples on how driving under the influence alters people’s lives in such a negative way. They can not just be told that they need to stay away from alcohol and drugs. They need the facts. They need to be told that they can ruin their own lives, or everyone’s life around them. This is not just about the ruining of themselves, but it is about how they can take an innocent person’s life. It is purely a selfish act not to think about what could happen when driving under the influence. Making people aware of these facts will deter them from making the life ruining choice in the first place.

Educating people on when it is not safe to be operating a motor vehicle can make all the difference. If they know what decisions will result in possible crashes beforehand, they will be able to decide that they are better off not getting behind the wheel. If they are overly emotional, are having trouble seeing, are too tired to stay awake, etc. then they should not be driving their vehicle. However, many people are not aware of alternative options they have instead of driving themselves. Including this in the driver’s education would also be a great idea because this will be information they can use for a lifetime. There have been reported accidents of drivers that have fallen asleep at the wheel—this is something that can be avoided. It can be avoided by getting more sleep, or just simply coming to the conclusion that they are not awake enough to operate their vehicle. Being able to make these choices is a mature and crucial capability. This will enable people to avoid fatal mistakes. The end goal of having fewer deaths by motor vehicle accidents can be achieved by taking small steps such as these at a time.

Personally, I have had multiple people in my life that were taken from this earth too soon from car accidents. They were my peers, my mutuals, my friends. So many people around me were negatively affected by these tragic accidents. Because of this, I make sure to drive with as much caution as possible, be aware of my surroundings, and make smart decisions on when I should drive. My dance school honors the late Kassidy Hockert who passed away when she got into an accident because of icy roads and bad weather conditions. She was beloved by so many. Kassidy would have been in college by now, and I know if she was here she would be giving so much light into this world. If there is one thing about her accident that can be said, it’s that it is so important to make smart decisions about your driving. So stand with me. Let’s make a difference. Safe driving is the start to a better future for incoming generations.