Is driver’s education still taught in high schools?
I haven’t seen one of those cars with the “Student Driver” sign on top in years.
Judging by the way I see many people drive, I am led to believe that a course promoting safe driving skills is not taught anymore.
At one point, driver’s ed was part of the curriculum at both public school districts in Tallahatchie County and at Strider Academy.
As a Charleston High School student in the late ’70s and early ’80s, I learned the rules of the road from coach Clyde Robinson, who taught driver’s ed there then.
It was a good course. Coach Clyde’s teaching abilities and his somewhat dry sense of humor made each lesson memorable. Anyone who paid attention learned the fundamentals and some nuances of legally and safely navigating a passenger vehicle on a street or open road.
I wasn’t exactly excited about driver’s education at the time. Like many teenagers, I had been driving off and on for a while and probably thought I knew a lot more than I did about how to conduct myself behind the steering wheel of a 3-ton moving automobile.
Not long after, I hydroplaned while driving too fast on a rain-slick highway east of Charleston. After spinning helplessly for what seemed an eternity, my car finally came to rest on the shoulder of the road, staring into a deep gully. Wearing my seat belt, I was badly shaken but uninjured and simply backed up and went on my way. Had I hydroplaned a mere nanosecond later than I did, I might have struck an oncoming car head-on. My dad used to say that God watches out for ignorant people. I think that must apply to foolish people, too.
Whether or not we discussed the concept of hydroplaning in driver’s ed class, I don’t recall. If we did, the lesson did not sink in. I had to learn the hard way.
There were a lot fewer distractions in the driver’s ed sedan. We did not have cellphones, so there was not much to do but keep our eyes focused on the road. At least we had better be doing that with coach Clyde looking on.
Everybody these days is in such a blasted hurry, myself included at times. Driving at highway speeds of 55 mph or more, separated from other vehicles by only a few precious feet, it is almost miraculous that there aren’t more traffic accidents. I guess that says something, driver’s ed or not, about most people being careful enough to stay in their own lane.
One crucial lesson that was driven home by coach Clyde was to always, always, buckle up that safety belt.
If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for the person who may be riding in the car with you. In an accident, an unrestrained person can become a deadly projectile, getting tossed around the interior of a vehicle as if in a pinball machine, endangering the lives of others.
