Safe Driving

I am a senior in high school in Redding California. I have had my drivers license for a little over a year now, and this is my perspective on driving safety.

Before November of 2020, I had never really thought about driving safely or in any particular way. Then, I was 13 years old, and just wasn’t really thinking about driving yet. One day in November of 2020, I was in the front passenger seat of my mom’s car, and we were going to pick my sister up from school. It was raining, the roads were slick, and there was a lot of traffic. All of the sudden, the car in front of us slammed on the brakes, and my mom tried to stop but the car slid and we rear-ended the car in front of us. The airbags didn’t deploy, although my mom’s car was totaled. Neither me or my mom had any injuries, my neck was only a little core from the impact. In the moment, I felt surprisingly okay, not really rattled at all. That was my first car accident, and even though it really wasn’t all that serious, it really affected me mentally. The next day, I guess after the adrenaline had left, and every day after, I was really anxious riding in cars. It didn’t matter what car we were in, who was driving, anything. I had to be looking at the road, I was always holding onto my door and my seatbelt, and I was constantly checking my surroundings. My sister started learning how to drive around two years after the accident, which was a whole new obstacle for me. My sister has never been a reckless driver, but I would say she is too confident of a driver. She doesn’t tend to think about what other cars are doing, and doesn’t seem to understand what could happen in the event of an accident. It took me a long time to adjust to being in a car with her driving. Even now, I’m still not really comfortable riding in a car with her.

I started learning how to drive three years after the accident, and my anxiousness with driving stuck around even then. My first time driving, with my mom in an empty parking lot, I wouldn’t even put my foot on the gas because I was too scared. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to control such a large vehicle, but most of all throughout my driving lessons, I was scared of other cars. Because no matter how safe and carefully I drive, I can’t control how everyone else drives, which means no matter what I do I am always in danger of being in a car accident. Even now, I’ve had my license for over a year and I am most comfortable driving myself, but get at least a little nervous when anyone else is driving. This is why I believe in good driver education and driver’s responsibility being something we need to instill in new drivers, and just everybody.

Lack of driver education is in my opinion the root to increased deaths in car accidents. I think it’s too easy to pass a drivers test, and having less than five driving lessons with an instructor is not enough. Driver education is not taken seriously enough, especially among young kids, which I know because being in high school, there are a lot of people I know that do not take driving seriously and should never have been given a drivers license. I think another root to the issue is personal relatability. A lot of drivers don’t feel like driving is that dangerous because they’ve never known anyone that’s been in a serious accident or died in an accident. This causes them to think it’s not something that could happen to them, so they brush it off as not a big deal. More education on the risks of driving could really help death rates go down.

Things I could do to become a better driver is to be cautious of other carsand always pay attention to my surroundings. I could watch my speed and remember in moments where I’m in a hurry that if I crash that will make me late more than anything. I think being in a hurry is something people think is an excuse for driving irresponsibly, when it’s really not. Just because you are late to whatever you’re going to do doesn’t mean anyone else on the road knows that, nor does it mean it is safe for you to weave in and out of lanes and speed. Overall, I think roads would be a lot safer if more people took driving more seriously.