Many conditions increase stress for new student drivers in an environment where they are already adjusting to the pressure of responsibility and the risk of crashing. Among them are risks of traffic, weather and distracted driving, both from themselves and others.

Traffic has always been an issue in the Davidson community. It’s no new issue for any driver, let alone a Community School of Davidson (CSD) high school driver who just earned a license.

Weather also plays a factor for cars on the road. Winter storms, especially, create havoc and drivers have to make minute to minute adjustments to their routines.

And then there is distracted driving. Cell phones behind the wheel. For adult drivers, distracted driving is one thing, for young drivers, it is something else entirely.

Put all three together and even an area mayor has an opinion. Delivering new roads and paying for new projects is always a challenge.

So what can be done? Looking at each issue individually leads to a bigger solution.

Traffic

Driving to and from school for students is one thing but when you add in extracurriculars, tests, and stress, after-school traffic can be a major time-management roadblock. 5 hours of free time before and after school could turn into 3.5 just from the drive.

The local government knows this and has been trying to solve this issue for months. Cornelius Mayor, Denis Bilodeau came in to speak to the Allied Achievers and Comrades Alliance (AACA) regarding traffic around the school, and in the community, he said that since day one, it’s been his primary focus, and he’s been receiving a lot of scrutiny for it as it is what he campaigned on and has been stressing to resolve.

In the past few years, the area of Cornelius and the surrounding area has received thousands of new residents due to new building infrastructure.

When Mr. Bilodeau spoke to the AACA, his main concern was his statement that the DOT lacked sufficient funding for road infrastructure improvements.

Mayor Bilodeau campaigned on fixing Cornelius’ traffic issue, and other mayors, such as Mayor Rusty Knox, have joined him in a role of attempting to help fix the issue.

When asked about traffic, Mayor Bilodeau said, “The rising cost of labor and materials, as you can imagine, delay projects and open the door to cost overruns. This puts a strain on budgets and availability of materials.”

Mayor Bilodeau’s approach to the traffic issue acknowledges that it is a complicated political issue and isn’t a quick fix. It will likely take an unknown amount of time to see progress on the issue.

“With the rising costs comes the ability to pay for a project. Increasing taxes to generate the needed revenue is never well received,” Bilodeau said. “This adds to the pressure associated with delivering new roads and/or clearing bottlenecks.”

Traffic can take away a lot of time from people who have after-school extracurricular activities and need to get home to do homework

Traffic in the morning is also a major issue as students need to get to school on time and can miss even a few minutes of classes as traffic gets especially crowded on I-77 and on the back routes.

Weather

Cold weather plays a big part in traffic and driving accidents. Winter, 2025 – 2026 was a difficult one for CSD student drivers with record snowfalls in bad weather, impacting commutes for months on end.

Staying in front of school related decisions, in addition to school administration, was CSD School Resource Officer, Mike Prather.

Officer Mike, when asked about cold weather and the safety of driving, said, “The primary challenge in cold weather is hazardous driving conditions caused by ice and snow.”

Adults who have driven for decades often find themselves running off the road or crashing during a winter event. CSD students who have much less driving experience find controlling a car to be very difficult on slippery roads.

Since CSD is a regional charter school, and many students travel from points around the community and up into the mountains, making a decision based on whether for the best interest of the school is difficult. The school has made it a priority to leave it up to individual families to decide what is in the best interest and safety of their students. Even if in-person school is not canceled, students are encouraged to stay home if they are uncomfortable with the road conditions.

Officer Mike’s experience with investigating crashes as a police officer provides key insights on another issue students face in tough weather challenges. He stresses that even slight changes and road conditions can have bigger impacts. Weather is a daily decision for young drivers.

Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is one of the top reasons for car accidents, injuries and deaths on the road today. It happens when a driver’s focus is taken away from driving due to things like texting, eating, chatting with passengers, or using technology in the car. Even a brief distraction can lead to serious consequences, which makes distracted driving a big public safety problem.

One major reason why distracted driving is so risky is that it slows down a driver’s ability to respond quickly. Driving needs full attention, coordination, and awareness of what’s around both on and off the road. When a driver looks away from the road, even for a few seconds, they might miss important changes like a car stopping suddenly or a pedestrian crossing the street.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for about five seconds. At 55 miles per hour (mph), that’s like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.

The numbers about distracted driving show just how dangerous it really is. In 2023, 3,275 people lost their lives in crashes involving distracted drivers in the United States. Also, earlier data reveal that distracted driving caused over 289,000 injuries and more than 3,300 deaths in 2022 alone. These figures prove that distracted driving is not a small issue; it impacts hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Another reason distracted driving is particularly dangerous is that it mixes different types of distractions at the same time. For instance, texting while driving includes visual distraction, manual distraction, and cognitive distraction.

This mix greatly raises the chance of a crash. Experts point out that the human brain can’t effectively multitask when it comes to driving, making distractions even more dangerous.

CSD students echo these sentiments.

Gracyn McRorie (‘26) sees the temptation and getting on your phone while driving because driving, at times, can be boring.

Even student journalist Kennedy Donley, who lives 40 minutes away, struggles with what time to leave to avoid getting stuck in traffic and distracted. She says it can also be difficult to travel with sports games, too.

Many teachers and coaches have also reported issues about making it on time to events, as well.

Overall, these three categories contribute to a stressful driving environment for new drivers who already face the stress of making it on time to both school and sports.

Traffic is a very real reason why students have been showing up to events later, meaning they should plan on leaving earlier.