subject: License To Drive [print this page] When I was seventeen years old and first earned my license to drive, I was unstoppable. Even though I still didn't have my own car, it was nice to be able to occasionally borrow one of my parents' cars and drive myself where I had to go rather than have to rely on them to take me everywhere. It wasn't long before my father bought me my own car, but up until that point, I had to borrow a vehicle.
Looking back on this time of my life, I now realize how much I learned. Even though I started off as most other kids in my age group did-without a vehicle- it taught me a great deal about responsibility. For instance, if I borrowed my mother's car, I knew that I couldn't stay out with it forever because while I was out joyriding around town, she was stuck inside the house without a ride anywhere. Occasionally, I would drop my mom off at work in the morning and then pick her up. However, I didn't have to do this long because my father was able to procure a vehicle for me to drive when I was a senior in high school. It just so happened that because of my father's position within his company, he was able to get a second company car so that I would have something to drive. The only caveat was that I couldn't really decorate the vehicle with things like bumper stickers, etc. Also, I had to agree to pick up my little brother from school and practices occasionally...but I didn't care so long as it meant that I got to drive somewhere.
It seems sort of silly in retrospect. Driving nowadays is more of a hassle than anything, primarily because I am now responsible for anything and everything that goes wrong with my car and also mostly because driving somewhere means that you have to share the road with inexperienced and/or all around, bad drivers. And it seems that there is no shortage of bad drivers out there. I am only too happy now to relinquish the driving responsibility to someone else (I.e. my boyfriend, parents, a limousine, etc.). There are still many people out there who seem to think or who operate under the belief that driving is their right and not their privilege. These are the people who see zipping in and out of traffic, who tailgate you even though you are already driving fifteen miles over the speed limit.
When we earn our driver's licenses, we need to occasionally take a moment to stop and think about how lucky we are to have that privilege as well as ways that we can help be a part of those who make the roads a safer place to drive on versus being the other way around. Doing this will make the roadways as well as having a driver's license more pleasant.
