A Few Words of Wisdom for College-bound Drivers
College can be an intimidating experience for anyone–waving goodbye to their folks, living on your own for the first time and traveling to unknown parts of the country.
How did others handle the transition?
Here are some famous views to share with your college-bound driver.
Have a Goal
Natalie Portman, actress: “I’m going to college. I don’t care if it ruins my career. I’d rather be smart than a movie star.”
Jodi Rell, former governor, Connecticut: “The best math lesson we can teach college students this year is to subtract a tuition increase and benefit from the dividends of higher education.”
Aldous Huxley, writer: “The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.”
Choose Classes Carefully
Robert Frost, poet: “College is a refuge from hasty judgement.”
Margaret Spelling, former Secretary of Education: "Higher education is confronting challenges, like the economy is, about the need for a higher number of more adequately trained, more highly educated citizenry.”
John Dewey, philosopher/psychologist: “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.”
Don't Limit Critical Thinking to the Classroom
Socrates, philosopher: “Wisdom begins with wonder.”
James A. Baldwin, writer: “The paradox of education is...as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”
John F. Kennedy, former President: "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”
Look Out for Yourself
Tom Petty, musician: “You have four years to be irresponsible [in college], relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember the time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So stay out late. Go out with your friends on a Tuesday when you have a paper due on a Wednesday. Spend money you don't have...The work never ends, but college does."
Harry Truman, former President: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
Classes are only part of the college experience. Even students who live on campus venture into the city every now and then. according to the Mesriani Legal Group, a personal injury firm based in Southern California, the five of the most common mistakes teen drivers make include:
1) Speeding – No surprise here, according to enforcement agencies. The danger is simple: Speeding reduces reaction time.
2) Losing focus – Inexperienced drivers may be more likely to become distracted, leading to collisions with road debris or not knowing they entered a construction zone. Drivers of all ages need to keep their eyes and mind on the road in front of them.
3) Not buckling up – More than half the teenagers involved in fatal crashes were not restrained during the impact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It reports about a quarter of teenage drivers in the United States don’t use a seat belt.
4) Texting – Distracted driving accounts for about 60 percent of all moderate to severe crashes, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Teenagers often feel invincible or even that they developed a “safe” method for texting and driving. Remind your teen that police are specifically looking for distracted teen drivers.
5) Intoxicated driving – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports 31 percent of teens who died in automobile accidents had at least a .01 blood alcohol content. Recent studies indicate prescription medicine is commonly found in the systems of drivers killed in car crashes.