Driving down an old country road to my piano teacher's house, I was averaging at about 40 mph. OK, I hit 50 mph at times, but that’s still quite an improvement from chugging along a busy road at 15 mph.

Going down that road, I was reminded of how at my first driving lesson I was speeding along at a comfortable 15 mph on a busy street. I could barely feel the accelerate pedal and didn't quite know how far to turn the steering wheel. I continued to turn right into a less busy street at the urging of my instructor, racing against the terrifying oncoming traffic, at about 5 mph. I believe that was when I panicked and hit the accelerate pedal. Needless to say, my driving instructor had his foot over the brake for the rest of that session.

In my subsequent adventures along the road, I managed to drive the car into someone’s lawn, almost hit a few mailboxes, and ran a close yellow light. Oh, and did I mention that I narrowly missed impaling the garage? Luckily, there weren’t too many people driving around while I was out on the road. And if there were, well, the little “Student Driver” box on the roof of the car gave sufficient warning.

My most memorable incident came when I was on the highway for the first time, when I first discovered how complicated it was to turn onto a highway. Look left, look right, peek on both sides, turn on the blinker, and hit the accelerate pedal as hard as possible. Then, you keep the pedal down and maneuver the wheel. Which is quite a bit more difficult than it seems, especially when there are cars all around you and a large truck in front. At this point, I should also add that my instructor had his hand on the wheel for some time.

After more than a summer’s worth of experience, I believe that I’ve gotten better as a driver. Granted, I still have a hard time manipulating the light or windshield wiper switches and take about half a minute to back out of a parking space. However, both my parents and I feel more confident about me driving on the city streets. I mean, how many other teenagers do you know watch the speedometer almost as much as the road?