“I first started driving right after my 16th birthday.

I shared a car with my brother, and I did not like driving, so I only drove when I went to school. The first time I came into the parking garage all by myself, it was right after I bought a sticker on the back of my car, and I was really nervous. I didn’t know if there were specific places to park, and I kind of got lost. I remember driving after school was so crazy, and I also got lost then.

In my first week of driving, I wasn’t in the garage yet, and I was going too fast, so I turned into a curb and I got stuck. I couldn’t get out, so I called my dad, and he called a tow truck. My dad wasn’t mad because the car wasn’t damaged, and he was kind of laughing. The cops were laughing too, and we all took a picture. At that moment, I was mortified. It was so embarrassing, but it definitely taught me how to be more cautious on the road.

With road rage, I definitely have had some people give mean gestures to me on the road, like the middle finger. I remember merging onto a lane, and it wasn’t either of our faults as this other car and I were merging at the same time, and by accident, we almost collided. He was enraged at me, and I didn’t even see him. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m sorry,’ and he did not stop giving me the finger— even when I drove past, I felt so sad.

I feel like teenagers live up to the stereotype, especially with drunk driving, and it’s really scary these days. A lot of teenagers our age are doing that at night, but also, a lot of teenagers have parents that don’t trust them, so they still aren’t driving.

When I first started driving I was a 5.5/10 at it, but I feel like now, I’m more of a seven out of 10. I’m a lot more focused on what’s going on around me on the road, and I’m a lot more aware. And in certain situations when something happens on the road, I know what to do because I’ve prepared for it. Like, if this thing happens, I can’t do that, you know? I used to think it was just driving, but it’s definitely not as black and white as I thought it was before.”