Being a teenager is already hard enough by itself with getting to know who you are, what you want to do, and problems with friends and family. It can make you feel overwhelmed and constantly stressed out. But when you add school, homework, and especially extracurriculars, everything starts to feel blurry as you hurry from one thing to the next. This has been taken literally by students who are hurrying from one thing in their busy schedule to the next.

According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, car accidents cause 1.3 million deaths worldwide every year, not to mention that young drivers are more likely to be in an accident than more experienced drivers. This statistic is slowly increasing due to the more relaxed feelings teens have about speeding. Speeding is a very common cause for car accidents, which is sad, since it is something that we can all control.

Students who are told they must be at practice at this specific time or else there will be major consequences, such as not playing in their game for that week, are in some of the most danger here. The minute that students feel like they are going to be late to such an important practice, they become stressed and do whatever they can to make it there on time. Unfortunately, most of the time that means speeding and driving carelessly towards their practice destination.

Coaches and directors need to be more relaxed with their practice times, because this is a big factor for causing the panic of students. Once a student begins to run late, they speed up, leading to more wreckless driving behaviors. It’s even possible they get stopped by a police officer, which makes them even more late, resulting in even more speeding and a possible accident.

No matter how you justify speeding or reckless driving, it is never a good thing and could be life threatening. Another stress on students is making it home on time to make curfew. If you are running late getting home, your parents would not want you to be speeding; it is not worth speeding and risking getting in an accident. I’m sure most parents would be happier if you got home alive rather than risking an accident.

The strict times and curfews put on students and new drivers in general are very crazy, especially if there are consequences. They tend to become more stressed and more anxious and become less aware of what is around them in general, and this can hurt them with their driving habits. I know a lot of new drivers who already are unsafe because they feel like they are comfortable with driving, and this rush puts them in a mindset of “I have to be here at this time and I cannot be a second late”, which lends directly to worse and more unsafe driving habits.

I have also heard countless things about coaches or directors being very strict about timeliness, which makes a student even more stressed.  It is important to make a good impression on your coaches and it is important to be prepared and on time, but if it is not realistic on a certain day and it is safer for you to be a bit later rather than rushing and speeding to get to practice, it should be considered by the coaches.  

Next time you get into the car and you see you are running late, consider your safety before you consider your timeliness.