Missouri is beginning to revisit an important question:
Are we doing enough to prepare young drivers for the realities of today’s roads?
That conversation has become increasingly relevant as distracted driving, aggressive driving behaviors, excessive speed, and digital dependency continue contributing to more serious motor vehicle accidents throughout Missouri and across the country.
Recently introduced Missouri legislation proposing the return of driver education instruction in public schools reflects growing recognition that roadway safety deserves renewed attention. The legislation would allow schools to once again offer structured driver education courses focused on safe driving habits, roadway awareness, and driver responsibility.
After more than three decades representing people injured in motor vehicle accidents throughout Missouri and Kansas, I believe that conversation is both necessary and overdue.
Over the years, I have handled thousands of cases involving serious injuries, wrongful deaths, and life-changing physical limitations caused by motor vehicle accidents. During that time, one conclusion has become impossible to ignore:
Many of these tragedies are preventable.
That belief is why Horn Law is formally expanding its efforts around teen driver protection, roadway safety awareness, driving safety education, and helping change the driving culture surrounding today’s roads.
The Case That Changed My Perspective
In 2010, I represented the parents of a sixteen-year-old boy who was killed in a motor vehicle accident.
At the conclusion of the case, we achieved the best legal result possible under the circumstances. But when the mediation ended and I rode the elevator down with his parents, the silence in that elevator stayed with me.
The case had resolved legally, but nothing about the loss felt resolved for them.
That moment changed the direction of my thinking.
For the first time in my career, I found myself asking a broader question:
What can actually be done to help prevent these crashes before they happen?
That question continues to shape this work today.
A Broader Driving Safety Initiative
Horn Law’s roadway safety efforts will continue focusing on several key areas:
- Equipping parents with practical tools for teaching safe driving habits
- Supporting stronger driver safety education for young people
- Encouraging defensive driving awareness
- Promoting clearer and more effective roadway safety messaging
- Expanding public access to teen driving safety resources
The overall goal is simple:
To help reduce preventable crashes by encouraging safer driving behaviors before tragedy occurs and contributing to a healthier driving culture overall.
Teaching the Highest Degree of Care Behind the Wheel
Several years ago, while speaking to high school students about driving safety, I realized something important:
If I explained driving responsibility the way lawyers explain it, most students would not remember it.
The legal concept that every Missouri driver owes every other driver the “highest degree of care” may be accurate, but it is not memorable for most teenagers.
The goal became teaching students an approach to driving that reflects the highest degree of care behind the wheel. To make that standard easier to understand and remember, I began using a simple framework:
- Alert
- Buckled
- Cautious
- Defensive
That framework became part of many classroom presentations and eventually helped shape the Teen Driver Protection Guide.
The goal was never simply to lecture students. The goal was to give families and young drivers a practical framework they could carry into everyday driving situations and reinforce over time.
Why Parents Need More Support
In Missouri today, parents carry most of the responsibility for teaching teenagers how to drive safely.
At the same time, the driving environment has become significantly more dangerous and complicated than it was for previous generations.
Distracted driving, increased roadway aggression, digital distractions, and more severe crashes have changed the level of risk young drivers face.
Many parents understand these dangers, but they are often left without practical guidance for how to teach safe driving habits effectively.
That is one reason I developed the Teen Driver Protection Guide and continue working to create additional resources focused on roadway safety and defensive driving awareness.
Why Driver Education Still Matters
I strongly support efforts to revisit driver education opportunities within Missouri schools.
Even if schools cannot provide traditional behind-the-wheel instruction, classroom-based driving safety education still has enormous value.
It can help students:
- Understand the seriousness of driving responsibility
- Recognize dangerous driving behaviors
- Learn safer driving habits before they begin driving independently
- Become safer passengers before they become drivers themselves
One important lesson I learned handling teen accident cases is that many tragedies involve passengers as well as drivers. Helping young people recognize what safe driving should look like can have meaningful impact long before they begin driving themselves.
A Different Approach to Roadway Safety Messaging
Over the years, I have also become convinced that many public safety campaigns fail because they rely almost entirely on negative commands:
- Don’t text and drive
- Don’t drive distracted
- Don’t speed
While those messages are important, I believe people respond more strongly when they understand what they are protecting.
That is why protection has become such an important part of my approach to roadway safety advocacy.
People are more likely to change behavior when they understand the risks on today’s roads and are given a practical framework to help protect themselves, their families, and others around them.
Lasting roadway safety improvements require more than isolated warnings. They require a broader shift in driving culture and personal responsibility.
Beyond the Legal Recovery
I still believe deeply in the importance of helping injured people recover physically, emotionally, and financially after serious motor vehicle accidents.
That work matters greatly.
But after decades of handling these cases, I have also come to believe that prevention deserves more attention than it currently receives.
The better outcome is preventing the tragedy from happening in the first place.
That belief is what continues to drive my commitment to teen driver protection, roadway safety education, defensive driving awareness, and stronger public conversations about the risks facing today’s drivers.
Safer roads begin with safer habits, better awareness, and a greater commitment to exercising the highest degree of care behind the wheel.
And moving forward, Horn Law intends to continue expanding its efforts to promote safer driving habits, stronger roadway awareness, and a healthier driving culture throughout Missouri and the Kansas City area.
