Driver education serves as a powerful tool that opens our consciousness while navigating the roads. In today's fast-paced world, we have an abundance of distraction and entertainment. It is hard to turn away from temptation as being distracted is easier than having full consciousness and control. In 2021, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 13 percent of all police reported motor vehicle accidents were attributed to distracted driving. To some, this percentage may appear underlying, but it represents a reality. Behind these statistics lie real lives, not just numbers. Tragically, in that same year, 3,522 individuals lost their lives due to distracted driving. Furthermore, an astonishing 87 percent of reported rear-end collisions resulted from driver distraction. We must understand that car crashes are indeed inevitable due to the mix of our nature of making mistakes and the fast paced hostile environment of driving. Although, through driver education and, unfortunately, the death of many lives, we constantly remind ourselves to turn away from distractions, like phones or alcohol, before we lift our foot off the brake pedal. A grand step we can take is educating each other on the importance of being relaxed while driving. Another critical step is educating each other about the price of car crashes. Not only the charges and the rise of one’s insurance, but the price of someone’s life, the price of being jailed, and the price of a criminal record. People should not have to pay someone’s life for them to not have consciousness and control over their driving.
I consider myself beyond blessed and fortunate to have never experienced a car crash. However, being a young driver, I’ve had quite the close calls that serve me as mistakes that won’t happen again. When I first bought my car, it was previously owned by my mom, and for that, she would drive my car from time to time. I had yet to learn to adjust my side mirrors, causing a huge blind spot. One day, on the way to school, I merged into the left turn lane not knowing that there was a huge suv towering over my little sedan. By the time I realized I cut off this suv, it had to go to the opposite side of the road to avoid hitting my car. I was starstruck as I could feel the aggression radiating off of the father that was driving the suv. I am in no place to blame or judge him as he was taking his kids to school. The incident was completely my fault. Luckily, I am past that. It is fortunately one of the few things I had to pay to have full consciousness in my driving.
A grand step I have taken to improve my driving skill and increase safety is having relaxed. To have full control and full consciousness over your driving takes a vast amount of effort. So much so that one can tense up and start to be conter-productive. I can attest to this. In my early days of driving, the moments that I tense up and worry about making mistakes, were the moments that I would make a mistake. I have practiced from day 1 to be relaxed and to clear my mind of distraction. Not only external distractions like food, my phone, or the passengers, but also the mental distractions. It is a life skill that I have utilized in my track career. It is ingrained into my mind as I always remember my coach yelling “Bananas!” track meets as a code word for relaxation. It is the main advice I give to people new on both the sport of track or the road. Unfortunately, not many drivers are aware of this life skill. People constantly bickering at one another through road rage and the concern of the hostile driving environment only leads people to be more tense.
I always advocate for a safer driving environment through driver education. As we do have police and laws to enforce safe driving, I believe the primary way to open our consciousness is driver education. It is the most significant step into taking control behind the wheel. Through my experience and the statistics behind all reported car crashes, a common theme of consciousness emerges. Although car crashes are inevitable, by embracing the education of the car crash statistics, the prices one could pay, and the confident life skill of being relaxed, we can arrive at not only a safer driving environment, but also a greater understanding of what it means to be conscious.