Types of Drivers | Teen Ink

Types of Drivers

December 2, 2022
By Cade38 BRONZE, Phoenix, Arizona
Cade38 BRONZE, Phoenix, Arizona
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Driving down a road is a daily activity for most people. Different types of drivers are everywhere on the road and can fall into certain categories. These types of drivers include, but are not limited to, the road ragers, phone addicts, race car drivers, and those who do not abide by the traffic laws. 

First off, the road ragers. These drivers are extremely dangerous and very annoying on the road.They are very common in today’s day and age, and tend to have no remorse for the anger they express on the road. These road ragers can get angry from even little things, most of the time out of their control. For example, while on an interstate road, one may see or experience somebody honking their horn or acting reckless, driving past others in a scurry, due to an accident or a little traffic ahead. These types of drivers are undoubtedly scary to be around, as it is displayed that they do not care for their car or, for that matter, anybody else’s either; all they care about is sparing those ever-so-crucial few seconds. It is hard to process how they think that this type of behavior is worth risking lives and large amounts of money in vehicles for. The road is meant to be safe and these drivers partake in creating an unsafe driving experience. 

Road ragers, especially in large cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, New York, etc. are experienced with the mass amount of traffic on a daily basis, and still find a way to be unaccustomed to this. These road ragers have taken it to the extreme with certain cases of road rage on many occasions. Whether it is something small, like flipping another driver off or honking their horn, or even pulling out a gun, it goes to show that people are crazy. It is sad in today’s society how something as awful as this is as common as it is.  In the extreme cases of road rage, reports of gunshots have been fired at other cars on interstate highways simply over miscommunication between drivers. Those who get angry on the road and act recklessly are undoubtedly the worst types of drivers and should be punished accordingly.

The phone addicts are also one of the scariest and worst types of drivers to come across. As it is self explanatory, these drivers love to check their phone, even while driving. Text message? Check it out. Snapchat? Absolutely! There is no worse time to check your phone than while driving. It endangers you and other people on the road, and even looking down for seconds can cost people a lot of money or even their lives. This type of driver typically keeps their phone on their lap or in a place of easy access, definitely not turned over and in their pocket/console. As addictive as phones are today, people should still realize how severe distracted driving can be, but they find a way to check their phone anyways. Back in the day, this never used to be a problem and people were much more focused on the road ahead of them. Cell phones have helped our society without a doubt, but have also hurt it just as evenly. After all, that one text in the group chat with your friends is worth your life or somebody else’s, right? 

Next are the wannabe race-car drivers. These drivers, regardless of the car they are in, feel the need for speed. They want to show off their car and how insanely fast it is, or, just want to get somewhere possibly a minute faster. These are once again unsafe and immature drivers. If you ever heard the saying “speed kills”, it’s true. Countless studies have shown that even going that extra few miles an hour could result in death but those few miles an hour mean nothing to these drivers. They look at the speed limit and add 10,15, maybe more to it. For example, Arizona highways and roads are terrible in regards to the speed limit. People won’t miss a chance to overtake a car that is abiding by the law and going the speed limit. Everyone is guilty of speeding every once in a while, but for them, it is not every once in a while, it is every time they get behind the wheel. By “asserting their dominance” or showing which car is faster, they believe that they are better than the safe driver and that the safe driver is not as cool as they are. While speeding down the road and overtaking other drivers in an unsafe manner, just one minor mistake can cause a plethora of problems. These drivers are also taking large risk by going as fast as they do. Going even 15 miles per hour over the  speed limit on a regular road can land them in prison and have a permanent stain on their record for the felony they just committed; reckless driving.

Last but not least, drivers who do not abide by traffic laws are just as unsafe as the others. As everybody knows, traffic laws are in place to provide a safe driving experience for all on the road. By breaking these laws, these drivers have now created an unsafe driving environment, just like that. This can be as simple as rolling through a stop sign or not yielding to oncoming traffic, speeding, etc. As these drivers fail to understand, or maybe do understand and choose to ignore, an accident where you are not abiding by laws is automatically the driver’s fault and will assume full damage for both vehicles or people injured. A crash, whether minor or severe, is extremely difficult to deal with. Nobody wants to fill out insurance paperwork and take the ever-so-precious time out of their day to deal with this issue, all because they decided to not follow basic traffic laws. In more severe cases, such as a fatal car accident, the driver breaking this law is responsible and it can become a court case and on their criminal record. Not only a court case will occur but imprisonment can happen just as easily. Manslaughter, for example, is very possible with a vehicle as well. It is a shock as to why people don’t take these consequences seriously, as the risks are without a doubt worse than paying attention just a bit better.

All in all, bad drivers are everywhere, almost inescapable. The unsafe and dangerous environment these bad drivers create is terrifying. One may get lucky and drive alongside a group of mature and smart drivers, or one may not. We can only hope that people realize the dangers of driving every day and think twice again before driving how they previously have done.


The author's comments:

My name is Cade and I am a Junior in High School in Phoenix, Arizona. 


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