Driving Habits and Their Importance as a High School Driver

As a soon to be high school driver, I didn’t have any set driving habits yet.

I didn’t know if I was going to be super diligent in making sure my car and I were ready for the road each time I took it out for a drive. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be overly aware of the cars around me or if I would be easily distracted. Obviously, the plan was to be a good driver. I just didn’t have the experience yet. I hoped I’d be able to pay attention to the road and learn good driving habits. The safety of my passengers was important to me. Luckily for me, I had a few examples around to learn from; my friends and family. 

Of course, as a teenager, I probably paid more attention to my friends’ driving habits than my parents. I always watched my friend, Ashlyn Ball, drive her little red Nissan Stanza. I felt like she had driving down! She was very safety conscious anytime she got behind the wheel. I always felt safe in her car. She was always checking her mirrors and keeping the music down to a level where she could hear the traffic around us. If I ever started talking too much… like I do… she would tell me, nicely, that I was distracting her. (I’m sure, now, my husband can relate.) 

All that being said, as safe of a driver and as good as her driving habits were… We still found ourselves in a wreck one afternoon after getting ice cream.

Ashlyn was getting ready to pull out onto a busy street with traffic coming both ways. Some cars had stopped to allow space for us to pull out. She took this as a sign that we were safe to pull out. Two lanes of cars had stopped and were letting us through. She forgot about the turning lane past the stopped cars and before we knew it, we pulled out and a car in that lane crashed right into us. That was when I realized, even the safest high school driver I knew, could misjudge a situation. Luckily, we were okay and so was the person in the car that hit us but it definitely scared us and was a huge eye opener for me. 

Since that day, thinking ahead has become my priority.

Thinking ahead is probably one of my strongest driving habits now. I am always thinking of the possibilities that come with each choice I make on the road. You can never be too prepared when it comes to driving safety. Building strong driving habits is the most important thing a high school driver can strive to accomplish in their first years of driving.