Northern Star Online: Remember life lessons from driver’s ed

While driving back to school this semester, a common thing happened in DeKalb.

It rained, and it rained a lot – causing flooding. It seemed, on that day, that many drivers either didn’t remember what they learned in driver’s education about driving in rain conditions, or just never learned about how to drive in floods.

There were drivers going more than 50 mph and causing danger to others around them. Drivers spraying water onto other cars’ windshields, and there were people driving through the flooded areas, instead of driving around them.

Driver’s ed normally teaches how to drive in these conditions, but some students don’t care to listen.

“The only thing that I really remember from driver’s ed is the Rules of the Road,” said Ryan Townsend, senior special education major. “All driver’s ed got me was the license and the freedom that came with it.”

Some don’t even remember what driver’s ed taught them or slept through the classes – and the videos.

“All I remember from driver’s ed are the outdated videos that would teach you the same things over and over again and drill this information into your head,” said James Williams, freshman political science major.

While traveling on I-88 and Nelson Road, I noticed many accidents or stalled cars caused by the storm and flooding. Many of these accidents could have been avoided if the driver would have remembered what they were taught.

However, it’s not always the young driver’s fault. Part of the fault belongs to the driver’s ed programs.

Classes need updated videos and hands-on learning to keep students engaged and involved.

The videos I remember best involve friends driving to pick up other friends and turning away from the wheel for a split second – before ending up in a ditch or hitting a child riding his bike.

Those videos were shocking, maybe, but they didn’t focus on other applicable driving concerns – such as what to do when faced with a flooded road and torrential rain.

Luckily, steps have been made to change that.

In August, Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved legislation requiring schools’ driver’s ed programs to provide six hours of supervised driving on streets. Previous requirements allowed for some of those hours to come from driving simulators.

This is a step in the right direction. Students should be given more supervised, real-world driving time, before they’re truly in the real world.

Increased classroom time and more interactive learning will continue the improvement of driver’s ed programs, ideally creating better drivers.

After all, these students will soon be driving on campus. Let’s hope they remember the lesson on yielding to pedestrians.