I got my license six months ago. In this time, I haven’t had a major accident. I did run into a car, but there was no damage so my insurance company wasn’t informed. I have come close to many major accidents, but I will spare you the details so you won’t complain to the California DMV for letting me drive. The thing that saved me the most is my car —a 2006 Mustang— which has a quick reaction time and gets me out of trouble. I have, of course, shown major improvement in my driving skills.

I will start with a driving profile. I do admit to speeding. I generally go about 45 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. I do not speed on the freeway. I go above the speed limit, but this is only to keep up with traffic. I do not call or text message (people do text message when driving. It’s ridiculous, I know.) I do not drive with friends without parents in my car, except for my twin sister- but my parents make me do that. I do listen to the radio, but I rarely fiddle with the dial unless stopped. And when I do, it’s to adjust volume so I don’t even look down. I have a convertible so my country music needs to be louder while I’m on the freeway or I can’t hear it. I do not eat while driving. Sometimes I’m sleepy while I hit the road, but I do not believe that really affects my driving. I will drive in the dark when necessary. The other day I got distracted by looking at my gas meter. I almost crashed. There was swearing. It was very scary.

The reason I wrote this article is because I read an article about it in the August 2008 edition of Reader’s Digest. Using their statistics, I tried to measure how safe I drive. Speeding increases my fatal crash chance by 35%. Cell phones bring your chance up by 300%. Yikes! Glad I don’t do that. One passenger increases by 48%, two passengers bring it up by 158%. Radios—a top teen distraction—increase death rates by 87%. I never thought of the radio as a distraction. Eating increases it by 2%. Since half of the teenagers don’t sleep (it’s school’s fault, really) fatigue increases chances by 55%. And driving in the dark? Three times as likely to crash. I’m pretty sure all parents now won’t let their teen drive. It’s scary. No wonder my twin sister refuses to drive.