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Our
Story  Our
story is not unlike millions of families across the country. Our child
had just finished his driver's education course and was eager to get
the next stage of his graduated program completed. We were reminded
of when we first got behind the wheel of a car for the first time.
The thrill of reaching this "right-of-passage"
remains one of the most memorable moments of our lives
and now we were to experience the same with our child. The biggest
question still remained: was our child ready?With millions of cars on the road across the country and thousands being added to an ever increasing traffic load, we realized that our son would be challenged by many factors that may not have existed during our initial stages of learning to drive on our own. With an ever-increasing speed limit on highways, greater road congestion and flaring tempers, our son would face a much more volatile environment than we ever did. Our biggest concern was how we were to protect him from such distracting and discouraging elements. We spent a lot of time asking our son what he felt
were the most difficult aspects of learning to drive after his driver's
training course ended. His responses were shocking! Actions
that many of us take for granted such as tailgating, cutting off,
rude gestures, excessive speeds, lack of driver courtesy, aggressive
and dangerous maneuvering and lack of attention to the road (due
to distractions such as cell phones, newspapers, make-up, etc.)
are only a partial list of concerns he had while on the road. Yet,
while he practiced and tested with an instructor, he never felt
as though drivers around him were as much a threat to his safety
as when he drove with us. That's when we realized the significance of knowing
who is a student driver and who is not; student drivers
are clearly labeled whereas our son was not.
When traveling on public roads, we, as experienced drivers, are
likely to give more room and extend a greater amount of patience
to a car labeled with the familiar "Student Driver"
signage. We wanted people to know there was not
an instructor in the vehicle with our son but still identify
him as an inexperienced teen driver in training. |
