Opinion
EDITORIAL: See Jane crash
cassie tant illustration
Teenage Dick and Jane love to text. Dick and Jane love to drive. Dick and Jane love to text and drive.
Dick and Jane love to crash.
Across the country teenagers have unified to become the most dangerous drivers out there. As cell phone usage skyrocketed so did the number of vehicular accidents among teenagers.
Even more horrific than the growing number of accidents among teenage drivers is the overall reckless mentality toward driving among this age group.
Teens like Dick and Jane would find it perfectly acceptable to text, eat and even do their makeup while driving. Distractions such as these have already led to numerous reported and unreported “accidents” in the student parking lot.
The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) set up a program to try to decrease the number of unsafe drivers on the road by imposing restrictions on teenage drivers. The program, however, is obviously flawed.
The DOT program does not punish distracted drivers until it’s too late and their actions have caused an accident or death. Driver education classes don’t spend too much time on driving distractions either.
So in order to keep students from giving in to these distractions, driver education classes must put more emphasis on the dangers of these distractions. If a few extra classes focused on safe driving, then the point would be received among Dicks and Janes across the country.
Alongside the shifted curriculum in driver education classes, the DOT should take steps to create safer drivers. The DOT could create safe driving tips handouts and distribute them in high schools, create extra driving classes centered on distractions or push a law prohibiting these distractions while driving.
These were just a few examples of what others could do to keep teens like Dick and Jane from being reckless drivers. But the biggest change can only come from the Dicks and Janes themselves.
Teens should become more conscientious of what they are doing and what they shouldn’t be doing. A conscientious driver could be the biggest difference between a safe drive home and a fatal car accident.
If these steps are not taken, Dick and Jane will continue their careless driving habits, endangering the lives of those around them.
Teenage Dick and Jane love to text. Dick and Jane love to drive. Dick and Jane love to text and drive.
Don’t be a Dick.