In the Driver’s Seat: There’s No Place Like Home

In the Driver’s Seat: There’s No Place Like Home

There are no short cuts in life that will lead any of us to anything that is meaningful. To put it simply, goals take work, time, and effort. This is something my parents have said over and over to me and my sister throughout our lives, and as I grow older, I realize this couldn’t be truer. Growing up this has been one of the sayings my parents have told us with such frequency that I could only respond with a dead-eyed stare: “I know mom, you tell me all of the time”. It’s kind of funny how things like this work because we hear what our parents are saying, but we are not really listening, and eventually we learn that our parents are right; yup, it’s totally fair for either of my parents to say, “I told you so” and this lesson especially hit home for me when I turned fifteen; recently, my dad took me to obtain my driver’s permit. Like all teens who are working towards earning a license, we need to catalog fifty hours of practice first. I am currently half-way through completing my fifty hours, and even with just half of the hours completed, I feel so much more confident driving. On my first day of driving, my mom took me to an almost empty train station parking lot, so I could drive around slowly and practice getting used to how it feels to be behind the wheel of a car. Oddly enough, there was an ambulance parked off to the side of the lot (see picture below), and my mom teased me that if we got hurt, or if she had a heart attack from my terrible driving, at least help would be there quickly; needless to say, I was extremely nervous – I ran over the curbs multiple times, I repeatedly stopped the car with jerky movements, and I took what seemed like forever to go around the corners. I remember thinking I would never be able to drive with the masses and felt dumbfounded that people drive every day with such ease. It’s true, you never really appreciate something or understand it well enough until you go through it yourself hence me really learning the lesson that practice is needed to become better at something, and I’m hearing my parents’ words now – there are no short cuts; goals take work, time, and effort. So since getting my permit, one of my parents takes me driving pretty much every day for at least a half hour, and now I’m even starting to drive at night too. I can see why people who are learning to drive need to acquire fifty hours in order to apply for a driver’s license because having so much practice only makes someone become a better, smarter, and safer driver. What has been most useful to me is having different experiences while driving: how to deal with bikers in a driving lane, safely changing lanes, merging into traffic, crossing railroad tracks, road lights being out; it’s having the actual experience that is preparing me how to drive well and most importantly – safely. With being a new driver on the road, I’m cognizant of how other people drive now. Unfortunately, every time I’m driving or am a passenger in the car, I see people being irresponsible – mostly with speeding but primarily with people texting and driving. It’s scary to see this, but it’s easy to see why car fatalities are 34,000 each year due to poor decision making. It instills within me why persistent practice is what is needed to become a better and safer driver on the road. Driving is a privilege and requires much responsibility. The decisions we make behind the wheel not only affect us and the others on the road, but they also impact our family and friends since what happens to us also affects the people who care for us. Therefore, we need practice driving in all types of weather conditions and at different times of the day to ensure safety on our roads so we can keep ourselves and others safer. Practicing with a responsible driver and completing a driver’s education course will only help to decrease accidents on the road. There are no short cuts here – put in the time to practice driving, pay attention in the driver’s education course, do not text and drive, no drinking and driving, and know and apply the rules of the road. We all want to be out on the road so we can go out and do and see things, but we need to make sure we are safe enough so we can all return home. Afterall, there’s no place like home, and being a safe driver will help to get us there.