To the People Who Don’t Care

It is a miracle I exist today. Reckless driving almost snatched away my chance at life; it almost ended my possibility of existence. My mother was in a car accident that nearly killed her. That should’ve killed her. If she had been driving her own car, instead of her boyfriend’s, I wouldn’t be here to write these words. 

That accident left my mom impaired for the rest of her life. Her bumper was found 300 feet away from the crash site. Her hand was shredded in the air vents, and the airbags broke her jaw. She suffered several injuries elsewhere too, including her pelvis, ribs, knees, arm, and worst of all, brain. This traumatic brain injury forced her to relearn how to walk and think. It forced her to change her major, redirecting the course of her life. It forced her to suffer. She still has problems with memory and speech today. 

I’ve often wondered what the driver of the other car was thinking. They failed to yield when turning left, and rammed straight into my mom. She had been right in front of them. From there, my thoughts drift to other avoidable accidents I’ve heard about. If someone had just turned their phone on silent, or turned down a second drink, lives wouldn’t have been lost. Families would still have their mothers and fathers, siblings and friends. 

Then my mind zeroes in on the important stuff. How does one stop those preventable crashes from repeating in the future? Their causes can be narrowed down to one thing: a lack of education and awareness. 

If the rules of the road had been drilled into the head of the person who hit my mother, they would’ve known how to yield. If the drunk driver had a safety ed class in school, maybe they would’ve been aware of how hazardous driving under the influence of alcohol is. If the person who’d fallen off the road while texting had sat through a school assembly, hearing the horror stories of people who had believed they could “multitask,” then maybe they would’ve been safer. Unlike most of the content one learns in school, a drivers ed class has the real possibility of saving someone’s life, with the education it provides and the awareness it spreads. 

While I certainly can’t do as much as a drivers ed class, I’ve tried to help anyone I’ve encountered who had that lack of education and awareness. This has happened online most frequently, where someone will say, “sorry for all the typos, I’m driving right now!” I try my best, in a gentle and kind manner, to inform them of the dangers of their actions. Not only are they putting their own life at risk, but others’ lives too. Now, “gotta go offline for a bit, driving home!” is something I see much more often. 

I know whoever’s reading this can make an influence like that too, whether you’re running a scholarship to spread awareness about the number of driving-related deaths, or just a high school student worrying about a quiz tomorrow. It’s just as simple as addressing it when you see it. When someone is attempting something dangerous while driving, or if you hear them talking about that, then speak up. Be kind and gentle, but don’t let that person leave with an increased chance of not making it home. 

However, there’s one big hitch to this plan of spreading education and awareness: people who don’t care. They’re the people who scoff at any attempts to reduce driving-related deaths, thinking it doesn’t have any place in their lives. They’re the ones who crash and die, and cause other people to crash and die, all because they couldn’t put in the effort to devote a small portion of their thoughts to safety. 

If a person who doesn’t care receives education, they won’t apply it. No matter how many times they hear how texting and drinking while driving kills people, it won’t be of any significance to them. The rules of the road are nothing but meaningless words on a paper in their minds. Even if they’re made aware of an issue, they refuse to dedicate any energy to changing their behavior. Education and awareness have no effect on people who don’t care. There’s very little one can do to change that. 

Regardless, to the people who don’t care:

1. Open your eyes. You’re not the only person in the world. Other people exist, and their lives matter just as much as yours. Their families and friends matter just as much as yours. Start respecting them. 

2. You murder those people. Every single day. Countless nightmares become real because of you. Your actions while driving lead to suffering and grief and pain. People die because of your choices. 

3. That affliction is permanent in many cases. People can’t escape a brain injury. People can’t regrow limbs. People can’t come back from the dead. Your actions leave a scar on their lives. 

4. Choose wisely. What’s more important: a text or a life. A drink or a person. Your time or a living human being. Get your priorities straight. 

5. But hey, at least you made it to the end of this essay, so maybe there’s the possibility you’ll change.