Learning to walk is a part of life, learning to ride a bicycle is a part of life, therefore learning to drive a car is a part of life. 

There is no escaping it, especially in Gilbert, Arizona, where the only form of public transportation is the city bus or the school bus. Both of which only go to designated spots around the city, and run at specific time intervals. If you miss the school bus, oh well! Good luck finding a ride to school when your parents both work downtown and can’t drive you. 

Driving is a part of life. It gives teenagers the ability to learn how to be independent and start making decisions for themselves. Yes, learning to drive can be scary, but that’s what driving school, permit tests, and driving tests are for: ensuring that everyone is qualified to drive.

However, as life goes, there will be complications and struggles. There will be people who don’t stay in their lane, there will be those who speed around you going 60 in a 45 mph speed zone, and it will be startling. Accepting that there will be uncomfortable situations makes driving a lot less scary. 

The most common place teenagers drive to is school, and with a good portion of teenagers turning 15 ½ their sophomore year of high school, mostly could probably write out step-by-step instructions on how to get there. They already have the directions memorized, allowing them to focus on following the rules of the road. The only difference is that they are the ones in front of the wheel, as opposed to their groggy parents. 

Teenagers who have just gotten their license or permit could arguably have a better understanding of the basic rules of the road. Such as, when making a left turn, turn into the farthest left lane, similar to making a right turn, turn into the farthest right lane. Right turners have the right of way, in almost all situations. 

After learning the balance between checking the rearview mirror and left mirror and the right mirror, keeping music at tolerable levels, checking the speed limit, and being 100% sure that the final destination is correct, driving is simple. 

Driving is second nature to nearly all adults and all those with a driver’s license. This means that everyone is qualified to drive, and there should be minimal disturbances from other drivers. 

Of course, there are those who text while driving, do not do this, and those drivers who seem to not know that their blinker exists, it is on the left side of the steering wheel, and lastly, the elderly who seem to always be going 15 miles under the speed limit, just calmly go around them. 

Driving is not scary as long as YOU know the rules of the road, and how to safely navigate around crazy/unsafe driving situations.