Teen Driving

Many parents push their children to get their permit and then their driver’s license, whether that is because they want their children out of the house or whether they want them to be more self-reliant, it doesn’t matter. While there are those parents that coax their children into getting behind the wheel, some parents put too much pressure on their children learning to drive and getting out on the road.

When interviewed students spoke about their experience being taught how to drive. “When I was first being taught, the main thought that ran through my head was ‘Don’t crash mom’s car or she will kill me’ and it made me a little tense to know that all that pressure was being placed on me,” Austin McGill, sophomore at Douglas County High School. McGill said that the most stressful part about his learning experience was being constantly critiqued and reprimanded.

Yes, when students are being taught to drive, they need to be critiqued and taught how to better their ways, however if that is best coming from a parent or an actual teacher is questionable. Parents have a tendency to reprimand their children more when giving them any sort of power (being behind the wheel) compared to when they actually make a mistake. Also there is the fact that not every person that has their license should teach others to drive, seeing as most people who drive today do not know all the driving laws or respect them on a regular day basis. Yes, students do have to take a class taught by an instructor if they plan to get their license at the age of sixteen or seventeen; however they are more influenced by watching others drive, aka their parents, then they are by the instructor.

When interviewed, Marissa Marr, age fifteen, said, “The current laws we have on driving should be increased and either be stricter or have a worse consequence seeing as they are broken left and right and only sometimes caught by authorities.” She isn’t the only one to think this way; it may be just because they are students they feel this way and understand the consequences of one wrong turn. Tiffani Lane explained it best: “When I first got behind the wheel of my Dad’s car it didn’t hit me full force that by driving the car I was putting everyone in the car’s (my Dad’s) life in my hands and also the lives of the others on the road, and that I was trusting the other drivers around me to help keep me safe. I’m pretty sure most teens and adults that drive don’t even try to grasp that concept of having to not just protect yourself when driving but also the others around them.” It doesn’t help that the current teen death rate in Georgia by teen drivers is 17.9 per 100,000, which is 59% above that of adult drivers.

There should be more education required before letting a teenager behind the wheel to help the teens realize how much power is put in their hands when driving and that truly “With great power comes great responsibility.”.