question re driver's ed instructor -- do you agree with what he did?

[VioltePrincess]

over the weekend I posted a thread about how a young man at my daughters' high school was killed in a car accident. apparently the young man was driving too fast, late at night, in bad weather, and lost control of the car. it's been a traumatic week at the school.


one of the ways the kids have been mourning their loss and handling their grief was by gathering together in their high school parking lot, at the parking spot which was reserved for the student who was killed (one of the priviledges of being student council president is a designated parking spot in the student lot).

so my daughter tells me that while she was at one such gathering, the day of the funeral, there was a driver's ed car in the lot. buy that I mean a car that was very visibly marked "student driver". four teens and a driving instructor were inside the car --- these kids were from another high school, and the instructor had them drive to our school to see the vigil and to ask questions about the accident. it was a very graphic lesson in safe driving.

do you agree with what this instructor did?

 

[MareQ]

do you agree with what this instructor did?

I think it's a great way to teach and send a message - however - I feel that there were better ways this could have been done. Maybe by contacting the school ahead of time, asking permission to attend and indicate why etc.

 

[Patch'sD]

Yes,

It shows them New Drivers their age and what the results of their actions behind the wheel could result in. The effect on the driver killed and the effect on the driver's friends. They should find out about the conditions of the night it happened, Wet pavement and the possiblity of excessive speed and what to do in those circumstances.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't see why not.
We have kids getting in accidents and killed all the time here.
That will hit home in the mind of a teen than some movie they show them.

 

[Frantasmic]

Yes, however, it would probably have been better to be more inconspicuous. Perhaps one of the kids knew the student who had died?

Otherwise, I think the point could have been made from across the street or something, but maybe the driver's ed instructor wanted to ensure the safety of the students and the best means to accomplish that was in a parking lot.

 

[VioltePrincess]

couldn't do it from across the street -- there's no safe place to park -- though I guess they could have parked in the teacher's parking lot.

 

[tar heel]

I think it was a very effective way to get his point across. Teens think they're invincible, and it's really important to remind young drivers of what can happen. A couple years ago, a student at my son's school wrecked near the school b/c she was going too fast. She's fine physically, but a family is dead. I know a lot of people who took their kids over to see the wreck site.

 

[mrsv98]

Our paper, the Chicago Tribune, has been doing a year-long series of articles on teen driving and how deadly it is. We have at least 1 or 2 teen driving deaths in the area every month, it is nearly an epidemic. I think any way you can drive the point home (no pun intended) is a good way. I know that my old high school parks wrecked cars out front of the school to show what can happen with reckless driving.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Yes, i think it is VERY effective.

 

[Hedy]

I think it's a great way to teach and send a message - however - I feel that there were better ways this could have been done. Maybe by contacting the school ahead of time, asking permission to attend and indicate why etc.

Agreed. Lessons are always good, but I think this one was disrespectful to those at the high school.

 

[poohandwendy]

Yes, I do. If anything positive can be taken from a tragic young death, it is that their peers see the impact of what a split second decision can do.

 

[lulugirl]

I don't have a problem w/ what the instructor did.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Perhaps he could have chosen a slightly better time (not the day of the funeral), out of respect for the grieving, but it will certainly hammer home a wicked important message. I agree with it
Heck when I was in drivers ed we were doing driving hours and came across an accident (the cops had already responded). The instructor took us down the road, had us get out of the car and showed us the tire marks and everything else. He also talked to the driver in front of us, then pulled us aside along with the cop and explained the importance of telling the truth to the cop and of not pulling the emergency brake, which is what everyone is pretty sure someone in the car did, despite the blantant lies that had been told. Seeing the car in the telephone poll certainly brought home a message on being careful

 

[budbeerlady]

I see nothing wrong with it, when we are young it takes a smack between the eyes once in a while to make us realize we arent invincible. Maybe a visit to a morgue would be good for all kids before they start to drive. Fear can keep you safer, it might make you slow down and buckle up.

My best friends dad was a sherrif (accident investigations), he tossed us helmet one night on our way out to a date with friends. (Dating much older guys with bikes and a habit of going too fast.) It was black and I knew it was not my friends, it was from a accident scene. A young guy in his early 20's was driving too fast down the road we often traveled and he lost control. (Now it very well might not have been his helmet, and her dad may have had one in the garage but he made his point well!) We were living hard and fast, some times it takes a smack between the eyes to slow you down and make you think twice. (Left the guy for my much tamer Dh and never looked back.)

 

[Mermaid02]

20 years ago right before my high school graduation, 3 really popular boys were in a bad accident. They all lived, but only because of luck. They left the smashed up car on the lawn near the school- I had no problem with it then and I have no problem with showing kids what can happen in the blink of an eye when they drive.

 

[Jennasis]

An effective lesson for ALL (including the mourning students). I would hope they all put 2 and 2 together like your daughter did and realized what the teacher was doing and took his lesson to heart themselves.

At my high school WAY back when, they would have trhe police dept deliver a wrecked vehicle from the impound lot and leave it on the front lawn of the school for the year with the SADD/MADD logos around it. the car was ALWAYS the result of a teen driver either drinking or being an inexperienced driver.

 

[Caropooh]

I agree with what he did. I would hope that seeing the memorial and grieving students would make an impact on all of them. I don't think just driving by the school and saying "this is where the student that died went to school" would have the same impact.

 

[golfgal]

There have been 9 kids killed in our old town since May, town of 12,000. I sure hope all the kids remember that when they are out driving. I wouldn't have an issue with the driver's ed instructor bringing new drivers over for the vigil.

 

[bjgrazi]

I think it's good what he did. You have to try every way you can to get through to them. We had a great young boy die in our town this summer. He wasn't speeding, but tried to miss hitting a deer and killed himself. I remind my daughter a few times a week when she's on her way out.

 

[momrek06]

20 years ago right before my high school graduation, 3 really popular boys were in a bad accident. They all lived, but only because of luck. They left the smashed up car on the lawn near the school- I had no problem with it then and I have no problem with showing kids what can happen in the blink of an eye when they drive.

They do this every year in our town right before the PROM. They find in the County the car that was in the worst possible smashed up accident which INVOLVED young teens and leave it on the front lawn of the high school before and after PROM! (Everyone has read about the accident in the papers). Very poignant MESSAGE.

It is creepy and haunting to see the vehicle.

BTW, OP, I think that was absolutely FINE what the Driving Instructor did, driving by the high school....it has left you all thinking/wondering/pondering hasn't it! Message sent and received.