Having the freedom to drive by yourself is something that nearly every teen looks forward to. Of course the best part is being able to drive their friends around, but with a license and the ability to have passengers comes responsibility.
The responsibilities include staying away from all the avoidable distractions such as texting, eating, playing your music loudly, basically anything that doesn’t involve looking at the road. But did you ever think that the people you drive with can cause just as much trouble as your own bad driving habits?
Behind the wheel instructor Richard Wharam believes that passengers can be very dangerous. He told a story of four teens from Maryland on their way home from a church event, they stopped to pick someone up they knew and the extra passenger had to sit in the back without a seatbelt. The car was full of loud and rowdy teen boys, they distracted the driver causing him to drive off the road and crash into a tree, killing the passenger without a seatbelt.
These boys weren’t drinking, they were simply being boys: loud and rowdy. Wharam believes that accidents from these kinds of happenings are really what they are called: accidents.
To keep young drivers and any passengers safe, the law in Virginia is that a driver under 18 can only carry one underage passenger for the first year the driver carries their license. After that the driver is only allowed to carry three underage passengers until they are 18.
Wharam believes, “this is an effective law and keeps fatalities down. Experts say that one is not an experienced driver until age 21 with five years of driving experience. The law should be extended until that age.”
Loud or attention demanding passengers can potentially be as dangerous as texting and driving. When a driver decides to send a text or talk to a passenger and take their eyes off the road for just a few seconds the car can travel more than the length of a football field.
However, the passenger doesn’t have to be completely silent. Wharam said that passengers can help the driver out by warning them of hazards ahead or to the sides.
If a driver is struggling to try and tell their friend that they are being distracting and not wanting to hurt the friend’s feelings, they can always tell the friend to save their comments for later.
Sophomore and new driver Taylor Bauman is excited to drive, “It’s really fun and you feel like you have all this freedom,” she said.
To make sure that she pays attention to the road she turns her music down in parking lots and when there is a lot of traffic.
When Bauman has passengers they, “don’t normally distract me because they know I’m a new driver,” she said.
Senior Caroline Porco has had some experience driving. When she drives with passengers she believes that it’s not that different from driving alone if she focuses on the road.
Sometimes the people she drives with are loud and distracting, “but they know not to be overly loud and distracting,” Porco said.
Senior Paige Northup takes the same stance on passengers, “I don’t think I drive any differently when I’m alone versus when I’m driving other people,” she said.
However Northup does find it distracting when people are yelling or when she is driving a car full of loud people.
“But if I’m just driving a few people then it’s no big deal,” she said.
Northup has never had to yell at anyone for being too loud in the car; however, “I think after you learn to drive you realize that you probably shouldn’t be crazy while someone’s driving, so if you just tell people to be a little quieter they generally listen,” she said.
Unlike Northup, junior Marie Schneider doesn’t like to take chances when she is driving. “It’s incredibly dangerous and not worth risking hurting myself and/or my friends. So if I’m going to drive lots of people I set ground rules, like no screaming, everyone wears seat belts, and arms and legs remain in the vehicle at all times.”
Typically after her speech and threatening to kick anyone out who doesn’t follow her rules everyone cooperates pretty well and so far Schneider hasn’t been in any dangerous situations because she’s been distracted by loud passengers.
Driving for any teen is risky and it is clear Schneider has set an example that all drivers and passengers can follow. Drivers: set ground rules and stick to them. Passengers: don’t distract the driver and possibly save yourself an accident by saving rowdiness for after the car ride.
Visit keepthedrive.com for more information on safe driving.
