Driving Safer

I grew up in a small, quiet rural community in Indiana. Our local high school has less than 350 students. In the last five years two of our students have passed away due to car crashes. In both instances there was excessive speeding by teenagers that caused these tragedies. Our community is not alone in these horrific tragedies. It happens daily all across our country.

In the first accident in our community the teenager had received her license only two hours before she crashed her vehicle and lost her life. I often wonder if the legal age in Indiana should be increased to 18 to get your license. Two years does not seem like a lot in some situations. However, there can often be greater maturity between the 16 to 18 age span that would hopefully prevent some accidents from occurring.

The second accident that occurred in our small community was also caused by excessive speeding. Both were single car accidents. These senseless tragedies hopefully made other young drivers stop and think about the consequences of driving using excessive speed and inexperience.

When it was time for me to get my license I was very hesitant. I was not in a huge hurry to drive. My parents first enrolled me in online driver’s education classes. I was able to go through these lessons at my own pace, which I found to be very helpful and relaxing. This can help put a reluctant driver more at ease. The lessons covered a wide range of situations that could occur along with basic knowledge for beginning drivers. If these lessons are completed by the teenager, I feel there is a lot to learn from them. However, some parents complete these lessons for the teenagers. Having the classes online is super convenient, if completed properly, which does not always happen. Instead of being able to complete the classes at our leisure we should have to go to an actual class with an instructor or log into a class using a camera with an instructor to prove that the teenager is actually taking the class. My local high school no longer offers drivers education training during school hours. This is something that should be offered at all high schools again. Taking online classes makes life easier for busy students, and parents, but being with an instructor would ensure more accountability for the teenager.

After my classes were completed my parents enrolled me in drivers training. I had to drive with an instructor for several hours before I was able to take my driver’s test. I was able to take my test with the instructor rather than going to the BMV to take it with a stranger. I feel that this put me more at ease for the test and liked this aspect.

During my classes and training I was given a log to keep track of my driving time with my parents. I was required to log 50 hours of driving with an adult. This was all done on the “honor system”. I know so many teenagers that did not complete this part of the process. Their parents simply signed off on the paper that it was completed. My parents made me drive, even when I did not want to, so I could have more experience when I got behind the wheel by myself. There needs to be more accountability for teenagers to drive with an adult before they are given their license to drive on their own. For a lot of teenagers the lack of driving experience is a major concern to other drivers on the roads.

In the state of Indiana we have a hands free law. It is illegal to drive and be on your phone. Distracted driving is a huge hazard on the roads. Whether that is a phone, radio, or something else going on in the vehicle. This is a law that is extremely hard to monitor and control. It ultimately falls in the hands of the driver to follow the laws and regulations to keep themselves and others around them safe. With there being a record number of drivers on the roads we need to find ways to get teenage drivers more experience before letting them behind the wheel of a vehicle by themselves. As a society we need to view driving as a privilege rather than a right of passage. In able to do that we need to change the terms of when a teenager can get their license and how much experience they should have with an adult instructor before we set them free on our roads.