Driving the Youth

Driving twelve kids every morning to Boston’s Pauline A. Shaw school has been a privilege and is my favorite part of the day working at Harvards Phillips Brooks House Association summer camp. This is only because of the environment I, and the campers created in the van for a safer experience. The safety of focusing on the roads has been the number one priority due to the extreme risks’ there are when it comes to driving children.

The amount of lives the diver is responsible for increases with the amount of children and the risk is also higher dealing with things happening in the van as well as outside of the van. The training for a van certification has made it clear that one directly affects the other. Many people assume research and training after receiving their license isn’t needed which has altered the driving experience from a privilege into a right. But it is not where driver education stops, there is always a refresher needed to understand the significance of driving education in the capability to drive. Firstly, the more people that are aware of the multitudes of dangers can help set limits and cautions to the road and further comprehend why the rules are set.

Specifically, the enviorment of the van and any vehicle should be allowing the driver to stay focused on the road, there should be the regulation of having a passenger rider to confirm and help with directions as well as any other help needed. The only thing the driver should be focusing on is the road, the passenger then can dedicate themselves to anyother distractions that may come. The main distraction being cell phone usage. Having to direct and navigate should always fall in the hands of the passenger, the safety of the journey is more important than the time and destination of driving. Other distractions inside the Van would be the people and movement happening while in motion of driving. Beginning to understand that even interactions in a moving vehicle becoming dangerous became very clear after driving the van of students. Looking from a parents perspective of having to take their eyes off the road became very real as well. Parents deal with distractions inside their car as well as outside. But having the passenger be able to check in and handle the situations was the most effective way to keep the focus on the driving at hand.

This issue arising with distractions inside the vehicle is one that many Ameriacn parents and guardians know, and it happens when the parents feel most comftotablel to be driving. The times include in routes they are familiar with, and in spaces like getting them ready for school and in neighborhoods with more children around. This can be extremely dangerous with statistics showing that “Approximately 52 percent of all car accidents occur within a five-mile radius of home”.

These can occur on the way to people’s regular scheduled day to work or with students to school. My mother would alway miss my school stop while talking to me to the point where we set a rule saying conversations will be held off until she would drop us off. Because of how regulated taking me and my sister to school was, she became comfortable enough with her driving and navigation skills to turn around for conversation. These instances would allow her to miss my school stop and have to find a different way to get to my middle school classes. Doing this increases danger which is why I have begun driving with the option to keep conversations to a minimum, a specific choice I made to allow the roads my full focus. As the children in the van exliam their excitement or overall express themselves with lounder and more hands-on reponses to converse with me, I would then express to my passenger that the environment of the van isnt safe for my driving or might continue to distract my full focus from the roads.

The driving experience after getting Van Certified this year has drastically changed my understanding of the gravity driving a large amount of the youth would be. Representing Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House Association meant that my driving and passenger etiquette was key, this meant respecting the roads, always being on alert, and having the children and all passengers recognize the importance of safety and respecting the driver.