What Are You Waiting For?
Once upon a time, most teenagers couldn’t
wait to get their driver’s license. They’d wake
up on the morning of their 16th birthday,
itching to get to the DMV and sit for hours until
their name was called and they were able to
take their driving test. They’d (hopefully) pass
the test, have their beautiful (also hopefully)
picture taken, and take the car out for a spin to
show off to their friends.
Nowadays? Not so much.
In 2014, just 24.5 percent of 16-year-olds had
a license, a 47-percent decrease from 1983.*
What gives?
1 The Era of the Rideshare. The argument
2 So Much to Do, So Little Time. You
If you’ve deferred to one of these reasons as to
why you haven’t gotten around to getting your
driver’s license—we think you should
reconsider. Getting your license now is
important, and here’s why:
1 Get Ready to Go. You never know when an
emergency situation will arise that requires you
to get behind the wheel. While you might not
necessarily need to drive your own car around
town on a daily basis, it is vitally important that
you learn to drive safely and obtain your license.
2 The Time is Now. Though it may not seem
like it, you probably have more unstructured
time now than you will as you get older. If you
put off learning to drive and getting licensed,
you’re likely going to keep running out of time
and putting it off. Go ahead and take care of it
now.
3 Practice Makes Perfect. Here’s a secret:
4 Face-to-Face. Electronic relationships aren’t
the same as real, in-person ones. Get your
license, hop in your car, and go see your best
friend IRL (in real life, for the texting short-
hand-challenged.)
can be made that there are plenty of other people
to drive you from place to place (Mom, Uber,
Lyft, etc.) - why do you need to do it yourself?
have basketball practice. And then your ACT
Prep class. And th en homework. And then
binge-watching The Office on Netflix. Wait—
did you even remember to eat dinner? Who has
the time to learn to drive?
3 It’s Scary. Period. Maneuvering a two-ton
4 Have Wheels, Don’t Need to Travel.
hunk of metal down the interstate is intimi-
dating. You’re responsible for yourself and also
partially for others. That’s a lot of pressure.
In a world experienced through Snapchat, Face-
Time, and Twitter, you really don’t need to leave
the comfort of your room to hang out with your
friends.
www.potentialmagazine.com
Putting it off won’t make it any less scary.
Driving is a huge responsibility, and it can be
a little intimidating at first. However, if you go
ahead and start practicing now, you’ll have
plenty of time to get over that initial nervousness
and develop your defensive driving skills.
*Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/
archive/2016/01/the-decline-of-the-drivers-license/425169/
Summer 2018 |
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