Let’s be honest, having a car or some type of motor vehicle is great, even necessary in today’s society.

And when you’re a kid having a car, or at least being able to drive one is even greater; you don’t have to walk to school, your newest pastime can be “loser laps,” all in all you have more freedom.

But is this freedom condemning youth?

On Oct. 16, early in the morning, four teens were killed in a car crash just east of Magrath. It’s believed driver inexperience was a factor.

While the number of transport accidents is decreasing for the age group 15-19, the factors that can cause accidents are increasing.

Less seriousness is put on driving in today’s society, because it is so commonplace.

In schools, tickets are stories and bragging rights.

While it may have been in the past, driver education is no longer part of the school curriculum across Alberta. Young drivers are getting less training and society has been leaning towards the “throw them in the river to teach them to swim” theory.

Hopefully the new distracted driving law is the beginning of a new line of thinking. Distracting factors need to be taken away for everybody’s safety. Those who are not paying attention to the roads need a wake-up call. Those who do pay attention to the road should also have distracting factors limited, to increase their reaction time so they can defend themselves against dangerous drivers.

While curfews and passenger limits are in place, more should be done so even fewer tragedies like the one that took place on Oct. 16 happen.

Those associated with driving tests should be working with police, if they don’t already, to specifically address common factors in inexperienced driver accidents in driving exams.

Photo: A set-up example of a younger, inexperienced driver breaking the distracted driving law. Photo taken by Nicole Stratton.