After you’ve driven in your hometown for a while and head to the same places over and over again, you kind of go into autopilot mode when heading to your usual haunts. For me, certain destinations on Staten Island seemed like second nature to get to, and while living at home, I found myself knowing the way without really thinking.

Fast forward five years later when I’m only home a few times a year. I must have had a quarter-life memory lapse because I can’t seem to find my way anywhere anymore.

This past weekend my friend wanted to go see a movie at the “cool” movie theater. This theater has huge screens and stadium seating – totally worth the $11 movie ticket - however, it is all the way at the opposite end of the Island, and takes a trip on the Staten Island Expressway to get to.

I had been at my aunt’s house and since I wasn’t too sure how to get to the theater from there I asked my cousin for the best way to go. After about five minutes into the journey I knew something was wrong. Magically, I found myself on the wrong street and about to go over the Verrazano Bridge that would take me into Brooklyn.

I turned down a side road, and after a few more wrong turns, and with the movie starting in 20 minutes, I said to myself, “Why are you roaming around when you clearly have no idea where you are? Use the GPS on your Smartphone to figure out the best way to the expressway.”

I pulled up to a red light and started to rummage for my cell phone. Then I remembered my advice to all of you, to pull over before using your phone especially when you’re in unfamiliar territory. So I pulled over and determined my route from there. I got turned around a few more times, but each time I pulled, checked my position, and made the necessary adjustments.

With all this stopping and pulling over you may think I missed the beginning of the movie. Wrong! I made it with 5 minutes to spare, and didn’t miss a single preview, either.

Moral? When you’re lost, take the few extra minutes to pull over and sort out the situation. Not only will you save time, but you’ll also keep yourself and other drivers safe.

Have a happy (and safe) 4th of July!

It is a universally known fact that a teenager with a shiny, new driver’s license wants a shiny, new car.

Chances are you’ve had your “dream car” in mind since you were in a car seat. But now that the time has come to actually get a car, it might be best to put the hot rod aside and focus on what’s really important: safety.

I know there are tons of cars out there that promise speed and style, but when you’re starting out, it’s better to go with a car that’s made for safety.

The best way to go about this? Do some research – you’ll be doing a lot of it in college so you might as well get some practice with a fun topic.

How about I give you a head start? Consumer Reports has done a great job of highlighting some of the top safety picks for teens, and some of them start out at less than $10,000!

So, do your research and consider how responsible you’ll sound when you tell your parents that you’ve picked some top safety picks.

I will freely admit that sometimes I ask questions that probably don’t need to be asked as I can usually answer them myself.

For instance, this one time when I was home on Staten Island, I had made plans to meet up with my cousin, Mikey. Mikey joined the Army not too long ago and has been training to drive tanks. I picked him up in my little car and we went to our usual coffee spot to hang out, dish about the family, talk about his life in the military and my life working in Washington, D.C.

After mentioning to him that I have been posting on the Driver’s Seat Blog for Teens Drive Smart, we began to reminisce about our driving tests and how great it would have been if we had a program like Teens Drive Smart when we had started driving. He felt compelled to tease me about the fact that, while I passed the task at my driver’s test, to this day my parallel parking remains abysmal. For the record, I can do it; it just takes me a try or two… or three.

It was at this point that I said, “Speaking of driving. What is driving a tank like? Is it hard? Are there tons to knobs and buttons? Is the steering wheel huge, like the ones on buses?”

My cousin, known in our family for his subtlety and tact, looked at me blankly for a second, sipped his frozen mocha coffee and said: “It’s like driving a tank.”

I nodded. That was all the answer I was going to get, and not for nothing, it was really all the answer I needed. Driving a tank is exactly like you think it would be: like driving a tank.

We moved on to discuss baseball. Go Mets!

For a woman who only in recent years purchased a cell phone, it seems that the only times it rings and she answers is when she’s driving.

This is half the reason I hesitate to call my mother on weekends — for fear that she will see it’s me and answer the phone while she’s driving. I can just see my mom behind the wheel, uttering a few, well chosen four-letter words because she can’t reach the phone located in her purse that she has flung, unceremoniously into the backseat.

But I am not alone (which is always good to know), my friends! The Pew Research Center recently released a study that found three in four, or 75 percent, of cell-owning adults say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. “Among all adults, that translates into 61 percent who have talked on a cell phone while driving. That compares to 43 percent of teens that said they had talked on their phones while driving,” as reported in a 2009 Pew Research survey.

Also, nearly half, or 47 percent, “of all texting adults say they have sent or read a text message while driving.” That compares to one in three, or 34 percent, of texting teens that said they had “texted while driving” in the 2009 survey.

You can read the full report here, if you like.

Now, I know what you are thinking: “Well then, why do adults think they can tell me not to text and drive or talk on my cell phone when they do it themselves?!”

While understandable, that’s the wrong attitude to have. To me, this survey gives teens the ability to empower themselves and take their safety, and the safety of their families into their own hands.

My advice? Print out the key findings and randomly place them throughout your home for your parents to find. Let’s think of some fun and strategic places to put them:

• In your mom or dad’s wallets
• Place them in the cup holders, or somewhere in the car where your parents usually place their cell phones
• On their pillows
• In lieu of placemats, print them out on large pieces of paper and use them to set the table
• Tape a sheet to the fridge
• Place individual stats in your parent’s shoes
• Tape them to the milk carton
• Stick them in cereal boxes
• Wrap them around the eggs in the egg carton

I think you get the idea – be annoyingly informed, and revel in the fact that you have scientific data to back you up when your dad finds Pew Research in his omelet.

I know I will when mom finds, “Beyond driving, one in six (17%) cell-owning adults say they have physically bumped into another person or an object because they were distracted by talking or texting on their phone” swimming in her Sunday bowl of pasta!