With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Ever since I had my driver’s license, I’ve fallen in love with the freedom of driving; nothing is better than rolling my windows down, blasting music, and just driving with no destination in mind. I will text one of my friends: “do you want to go on a drive?”, and driving becomes our mode of not simply transportation, but friendship and unwinding. And yet, even when I have one hand on the wheel and the other peeking out the window, feeling the cool breeze on my fingertips, a car in front of me will stop abruptly, or someone will swerve in front of me, or, on the rare occasion, someone almost collides with me, and instinct takes over, skills honed through not just driver’s education, but also lots of practice.

Even in the beauty of driving, especially as a young person, I constantly have to remind myself of the power I wield when I start my car’s ignition. I have been on the other side of the situation, especially when I was a newer driver, and yet it can happen to anybody. A second of not paying attention, getting lost in a song, or finding directions on a GPS app can quickly lead to tragedy. The more comfortable we get with a vehicle, the easier it is to forget our training and responsibility, the laws and regulations as well as the moral implications that Driver’s Ed. has worked endlessly to implement in teens before they even sit in the driver’s seat. To prevent deaths, one must follow the root: underneath recklessness, or even simple mistakes, is lack of awareness of ethical and legal rules to consider when driving. To get your driver’s license, you have to know the rules of the road to pass: it’s purposeful, and for the most part, effective. But when following through, there is very little that instructors can do to control your choices for you once you’re out on the road. Education can only go so far, rather, raising teenagers with the ability to fear cars and the road, to understand the power that comes with driving, will contribute to an extent to driving-related deaths.

As the infamous Spider-Man movie quote goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” This holds a lot of truth in the importance of driver’s education. Arguably, more deaths could be prevented if this cheesy but true saying was considered more wisely. Many teens don’t value the life of themselves or others like they should be in order to hold responsibility for a vehicle- and this reflects on their teaching as well. Driver’s education needs to emphasize the responsibility and importance of valuing life and understanding the power someone who controls a vehicle holds. This can be achieved through standardizing driver’s education programs to not only include this, but place equal emphasis on it on the same level as the laws and road rules that new drivers must understand as well.

Something I will never forget is a boy a year older than me last year who abruptly died in a car crash, after he was in the passenger seat with a friend, speeding over hills trying to catch air, and ending up flying off the side of the road and rolling over. This event shook our entire community, and for me, a very new driver, it awoke me more than any driver’s ed ever had to the importance of respecting the dangers of not following the principles of road safety and understanding that having fun can lead to tragedy. This wasn’t even a case of drunk driving, or texting and driving, two of the primary reasons many people die from car accidents. Rather, it was fun, reckless fun that turned deadly with a small misjudgement.

Each time I get in the car, especially with a friend, just for fun, I always could use a reminder even myself to be cautious and not get caught up in the freedom that a license provides. This isn’t to say that driving can never be an act of fun or freedom- especially as a teenager, having that ability and those escapes are healthy. However, without acknowledgement of the responsibility that driving holds, and without that proper teaching as well, more unnecessary deaths will continue to occur from recklessness and forgetfulness of what can happen in an instant. This isn’t a judgment of anyone who has made mistakes, rather, a reminder to myself as well that driving, though a fun release, must be taken seriously as well as an act holding great power upon life.