I started driver’s education today, and I found myself laughing at a lot of sad things.

Wonderfully horrendous elderly actors told me how they found themselves drifting off while driving, all while (very frequently) mournfully reminiscing on their earlier years.

Monotone instructors told me I should avoid making eye-contact with drivers suffering from road rage as they, like silverback gorillas, would take that as a threat. “Even a friendly smile can be misinterpreted,” I was informed.

Most horribly of all, I was informed that drivers my age are over twice as likely to die in an accident because we’re all more prone to “risk-taking behavior.” A short clip from a film from the 1930s was playing, showing someone probably named “Chip” courting “his girl.” The dialogue was hard to hear, but it probably sounded something like, “My beau is so swell, he leaves his moonshine at home!”

Even from my limited experience, I knew that all of the information was accurate, but it was still hard for me not to chuckle when I heard it. The information was alarming, and certainly warranted close attention, but when the medium is as hilariously out-of-touch as driver’s education, it’s hard to take it as seriously as they’d like you to.

I still found myself taking the gist of the message seriously: don’t do stupid things while you’re driving because people your age often do stupid things while they’re driving. Fine. If I need to hear that for approximately 40 hours, discounting the time spent learning information about how to actually drive, then so be it.

At times, though, it’s hard to believe that even they take themselves seriously. Clip art is poorly photoshopped over pictures of cocaine. A red-faced cartoon man, presumably designed by an unhappy third-year graphic design major, popped up during a very serious warning about why staying calm on the road was vital.

“Psh, whatever,” said a very convincing teenager when he first heard that sleep-related accidents cost billions (“Yes, that’s billions with a ‘b,” I was told by Rick Perry’s least favorite cousin) of dollars.

It goes without saying that driving responsibly is the primary burden of teenagers, and indeed, anyone, who is lucky enough to have a car and license.

It’s less certain how effective driver’s education is at relaying the weight of that responsibility. So, in the meantime, I’ll continue to laugh at it.