The Selfless Responsibility

Driver education helps us realize that not only is the ability to sit behind a steering wheel a privilege, but it is a responsibility. We must understand how to drive responsibly. It is equally important that we understand the weight of that responsibility. Driver education helps us figure out what is most important. It helps us understand the importance and significance of what we are doing. Because when we get behind the wheel, we are holding the lives of everyone we encounter at our fingertips. It is critical that we can comprehend the level of that responsibility. Driver education helps us do just that. It allows us to partake in the civil discourse necessary to make ourselves safer drivers.

I took a driver education class in seventh grade. I grew up in South Dakota, which means I was able to drive a car by myself at the age of fourteen. I was driving myself to school the winter of my eighth-grade year. When I was just thirteen years old, I was watching videos in class about a girl who was texting and driving when she killed a younger kid. This girl, who was only seventeen at the time, would spend the majority of the rest of her life in prison. At thirteen, I had big dreams. I was going to change the world. I knew that I could not spend the rest of my life in a jail cell. Selfishly, I knew I could never text and drive. There was so much life I had yet to experience. Maybe it took this selfish thinking for me to decide to drive selflessly, and maybe that is okay.

To reduce the level of deaths related to driving, teenagers have to care about others. They have to realize that what they are doing not only affects themselves but every single person they pass in with their car. Driver education must teach teenagers early on that driving is a selfless act, and that texting and driving is one of the most selfish things you can do. I know my driver education class did an effective job of conveying that message. They scared us into acting selflessly. I think at that age it was appropriate. At thirteen, many do not care about anyone but themselves. The weight of the responsibility of driving would be easily lost on us if we did not have something to lose for ourselves. Teaching us that our hopes, dreams, and lives can be ripped from us simply by acting carelessly is an effective way to get a teenager to act selflessly. 

I have never been in a car accident. However, I have been in the car when my friends or family are making selfish decisions. The decision to send a text while driving not only affects their life but also mine and the lives of those in the cars around us. It has become easy for me to tell the difference between those who took a driver’s education class and who did not. The responsibility of driving is lost on many people, but it is important to remember that it is never too late to learn to care for others. 

Watching those I love behave in such carelessly selfish ways hurt my heart, but change is not made simply by watching. It takes the bravery to stand up to those you love to enact real change. It does not take anything especially extraordinary or grand to start saving lives and changing our communities, but it does take someone to start the conversation. Driver education does an amazing job of sparking the need for conversation among teenagers. It provides us with the mindset necessary to make ourselves safe drivers, and the tools necessary to influence change in others. 

I am actively becoming a better and safer driver every day. Every time I get into a car I remind myself of the great responsibility I have. I remind myself that I must drive selflessly. I do the same when I am in the passenger seat. I encourage people to care for others. While I may not be doing anything seemingly extraordinary or grand, I am having uncomfortable conversations. Those uncomfortable conversations are the ones that are going to help make our roads safer. They are never easy, but they are always necessary. It is important to remember that we have the power to create change in the mindsets and habits of those around us. Through driver’s education and uncomfortable conversations, we are actively making our world a safer place.