Everything is a distraction when you’re young

I’m a 16-year-old who still has her driver’s permit. Needless to say, I’m in a hurry to receive that plastic ticket to freedom: My license.

For those of you who don’t know how the permit-to-license program works, a driver must acquire 50 hours of driving time, 10 of which need to be nighttime hours, before receiving a license.

I’m an intern at the Daily Herald. In order to get from my house to work, one must take a treacherous route filled with left turns, awkward lane changes and inconveniently placed stop signs. I wasn’t planning to practice my driving on this route; that is until my cousin made me take the driver’s seat.

New drivers have to worry not only about the real traffic hazards, but also the fears, which are distracting on their own. Things like, “This isn’t your car, don’t crash” or “You’re going to kill someone” are running through our heads. When driving in Arlington Heights, there are a lot of traffic lights to which to pay attention. That is hard enough when it’s 80 degrees in the car. Throw in the distraction of a rude tailgater and a driving lesson turns into a nightmare.

It doesn’t help the situation when drivers next to me blasts my favorite songs. How am I supposed to pay attention to the traffic lights when I have Adele screaming in my ear?

I also need to look out for drivers who like to speed through intersections and lanes. More than once I had to slam on the brakes to keep from crashing. At these moments, please do not honk your horns if us drivers-in-training don’t accelerate fast enough. It just makes us more nervous and unsteady with the gas pedal.

I think it’s safe to say new drivers are not driving slow to annoy the experienced drivers. We do it so we can keep ourselves and those around us alive. Please don’t cut us off. Chances are we are too absorbed by all the other things going on around us to notice you switching lanes without a turn signal.

However, not all the distractions can be blamed on outside drivers. Parents yelling at us when we make a minor mistake is not a good thing. It only makes us angry and distracts us more.

If you want to make learning how to drive easier on everyone, please don’t yell, cut us off or honk your horn. You’re not teaching us a lesson, you’re just terrifying us.