The Most Important Thing

The
Most Important Thing

I
didn’t get my license until 17. I didn’t even drive a car or take
drivers ed until 17. Driving is scary to me. You are in charge
of controlling this huge, heavy piece of metal that is capable of so
much destruction. You have to be careful and capable of driving it.

Even
scarier than that is driving next to other people. You don’t know
if they are good at driving. You don’t know if they’ll break the
rules. You don’t know if they’ll put you in danger. That is
terrifying.

Sadly,
I’ve seen almost everyone I know drive irresponsibly. My family
does it, my friends do it, half the people on the road do it. One
time, I saw someone go around a roundabout backwards. For some
reason, there is this flippant and carefree culture around driving.
Everyone just brushes off the rules because they think they are
better than the rules. They never think that they could get into an
accident.

I’m
not totally sure how we can change this, but I think it starts with
the parents. It has been proven that children generally adopt the
attitudes and behaviours of their parents. This means that the
parents need to take the first step of treating driving differently.
They need to remember the seriousness of their actions in the
driver’s seat and relate this to their kids. If kids start to see
their parents being cautious of driving, maybe they’ll start to be
cautious or at least open to conversation about what good driving
looks like.

This
attitude will then be taken into drivers ed. Currently, too
many students use class as a time to goof off and chat with their
friends. However, if parents encourage an attitude of seriousness
about driving, students will be more inclined to really listen in
class. They will try and learn because they’ll care about the lives
they are affecting.

This
movement starts with parents and grandparents and older siblings. As
the oldest sibling myself, I am going to try to teach this to my
younger siblings. As a future mom, my children will learn about the
seriousness of driving at a young age because it’s important. For
those that have lives taken because of reckless driving, the attitude
towards driving is the most important thing. We need to always treat
driving like it could ruin someone’s life with one wrong move.