By Sarah Loyden, Clarion Copy Editor
To be a driver, for some people it could be a ‘new & fun’ experience but for some, it could be a literal ‘nightmare.’
On December 3, 2021 around 6:00pm at night, my mom and I decided to test my driving skills. I’m 18 years old and I was thinking, ”I can get a driver’s license – and also during the pandemic, my 17-year-old sister and I were already practicing, so we had a bit of experience, but it’s been awhile since we've been behind the wheel and this was our first time on the streets.
My mom let me drive her to the gas station, and my little sister drove back home. The whole experience was pretty shocking. I would call the moment ‘traumatizing’ at first but after some advice from my mom, I decided to take that moment as a ‘learning lesson’ and know that it was just the beginning. Soon one day, I’ll be driving like an adult, but I will forever remember that moment.
Lots of students here at Kennedy High School are driving. But I bet they were like me, afraid to get pulled over or make a mistake or maybe some were confident and already felt like they got it. Some tend to wait patiently for their time to come. But even if the moment was scary, you have to believe in yourself and know that you'll get even better, you are just learning and figuring out a part of life.
You may not think adults have felt how you felt when driving for the first time. My advice is: overcome that fear and achieve. Sooner or later, you’ll be able to master driving. To be able to drive, speaking for myself, it’s like a big promotion for me as a young adult. I know there’s a lot of people who are driving and after some years or decades, they have mastered driving, but now they probably don’t drive the way they used to, like they had to in order to pass their driver’s test. Is it a good thing? I don’t know but as long as no one gets hurt, and also that’s why we have insurance and highway patrol and police for those naughty drivers out on the road. Some people might be like me, where we want to be skilled at driving and not get pulled over by police and want to do everything right in order to not get into trouble, and definitely not trying to crash into others cars or get into a car accident. But at the end, life goes on and some people prefer to ride a bike or take the bus for the rest of their lives but it might not be for everyone. But at least we still have people who can take us to places we need and want to go, like Uber, Lyft, your Local city's bus, Train, The Light Rail, etc.
Approaching a left turn lane at the red light in traffic at night.- Sarah Loyden