Using better judgment while driving seems to be something reserved for those of us who first receive their driver's permits.
We are so focused on not making mistakes so that we can pass our driver's education classes and tests, that we tend to pay attention to our judgment.
However, as soon as we get that little rectangular piece of plastic in our hands signifying that we are officially allowed to drive on our own, something seems to transpire then.
It's almost as if we no longer care about the rules and applications that go into being a responsible driver! When I took driver's education classes in high school, we would sit through an hour long class at 7:30 in the morning and then immediately follow that up by breaking into small, pre-assigned groups for the driving portion of the class.
We would walk out of our driver's education class and pile four to five of us into our respective driver's education cars where our driving instructors would be waiting.
One day, while taking turns at the wheel, a boy named John was taking his turn at driving.
All before the class, he had been bragging about how his parents had been letting him drive their car.
That being said, he thought he was already a pro at this.
John climbed behind the wheel of the car; and in the driver's education vehicles, the driving instructor sat on the front passenger side of the car next to the student.
The neat thing was that while the front passenger side of the driver's education car did not have a steering wheel, it was equipped with a second set of brakes.
Sometimes, we would forget this...
As John was driving, the instructor had him take us into one of the residential neighborhoods so that we could all practice our parallel parking.
Well, as John was cruising down this residential street, he decided to take one hand off of the wheel and put it behind the front passenger seat.
Immediately, I saw the driving instructor's eyes dart to this foreign hand that was now behind his headrest, and then his eyes darted back to John's face.
John was totally and blissfully oblivious.
Two seconds later, we all flew forward in the car as the driving instructor slammed his foot on the brake.
It was a good thing we were all wearing our seat belts.
Right away, John shot a quizzical look over at the driving instructor.
I could see the wheels turning in John's head as he tried to figure out what he had done that would cause the driving instructor to react so harshly.
The driving instructor said nothing but instead, kept looking straight ahead.
Another minute passed by, and John, again, reached his hand behind the headrest of the front passenger seat.
I braced myself, having already caught on to what was going on, to what was inevitably coming.
SLAM! We all flew forward again as the instructor stepped on the brake.
This time, John (clearly rattled and still oblivious) asked the instructor what he was doing wrong to which the instructor replied, "Do you mind keeping both of your hands on the steering wheel?!"