Aerin Johnson
Johnson.Aerin@wgecho.org

When students turn 15, the first thing they usually want is their drivers’ permit. At 16 they want their drivers’ license. However, the students and parents have very different opinions about the student driving.

Junior Kirsten Fischer started driving in May of 2012 and remembers her mother saying, “My baby’s growing up.” She also recalled the first time she went driving with her parents, and they would brace themselves whenever she turned a corner.

“I was nervous,” Fischer said about when she first started to drive. She said people practice driving, but then when they start driving by themselves, they do have to do a lot more alone like picking up family members and going to the store.

Fischer shared one of the scariest times she had to drive with a parent in the car.

“I was driving my dad’s truck, and it was during cicada season, and I was on the highway going 60 miles an hour,” Fischer said. She continued with a warning to not have windows opened because cicadas can hit people in the forehead. She said her father told her afterwards, “My life just flashed before my eyes, and I wasn’t even driving.”

Students such as sophomore Jenny Barnett, also have stories about driving. Barnett said she was at a three-way stop once. When she thought it was her turn to go, a police car at the stop thought it was its turn. While no one was hit, Barnett was sure that she was going to get a ticket. She was thankful when nothing happened though.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty lame horror story,” Barnett said at the end of the story.

Melissa Siempelkamp, sophomore, has her permit and started driving the week after she turned 15.

“Well, my dad was planning on taking me driving,” Siempelkamp said explaining that he was going to put up obstacles for her to drive around, “Driving is so scary.”

She then gave the following advice, “Take a driving expert (for the first time driving).”

Other students, however, did not have as many problems. Aron Tolin, sophomore, started out driving on country roads at 14 for practice. He said his parents were nervous but were confident.

“Just a few close calls,” Tolin said about troubles with driving. He said, “It’s fun and scary.” He said while driving gives people more freedom, there is still a lot that can go wrong such as accidents.