Driver Education Initiative – Every 16 Minutes

The
uncomfortableness that would surround me when someone would ask “Why
does your dad only have one arm?” or “How many siblings do you
have?” was sometimes unbearable. I usually found myself thinking
about exotic lies to tell people about these situations because the
truth was too complicated for me to comprehend and explain at that
age. I remember telling one of my classmates that my dad got his arm
bit off by an alligator because I thought it was easier to say that
than to say, “He got in a car wreck and had to get his arm
amputated.” It was so confusing when others would ask me how many
siblings I had. I didn’t know whether to say I had 3 or 2. Did she
still count as my sibling even though she passed away? My young
innocent mind couldn’t handle it.

It
was April 30th, 2005. I don’t have much memory of the event as I
was only 4 years old but certain details still haunt me. My sister,
Shakeria, was only 22 years old when a drunk driver who crossed the
center line going 90 miles per hour hit her head on, causing both
cars to explode into flames. He killed six people in the accident: 2
in the backseat of his car and all 4 in my sister’s car. My mom had
gotten a call that there was a car accident and that it appeared to
be her daughter’s car. My mom and dad fled to the scene, and I was
left at home with my other sister, Aneka, and my brother. The
accident scene was blocked off with yellow tape and they couldn’t
see much, but my mom knew it was her car, even though they wouldn’t
let her approach. When they got back home, I remember the look on my
mother’s face of complete blank sadness. I remember so many
familiar and unfamiliar faces flooded our house to console my mom,
dad, sister, brother, and me. I remember my mother walking so slowly
as if every bone in her body was aching, to her bedroom to lie down
on her bed. I didn’t understand that she just lost her daughter
horrifically. I didn’t understand why I didn’t see my sister
anymore. I didn’t understand why everyone around me was so sad. I
just didn’t understand. Why did my sister have to die and the man
who killed her survived? Why did he only get 20 years in prison? Why
did he get to be free someday and my sister would never come back?

It
was the spring of 1988 when my dad’s life took a turn for the
worse. He was only 26. He and his 3 good friends from college were
leaving his house after a birthday party. My dad was in the passenger
seat. It was just past midnight when the car’s speed hit 120 miles
per hour, went airborne, hit a large oak tree, kept rising, and then
flipped over endless times into trees 20 feet off of the ground. The
car was found 265 feet from where it started. The whole car was
smashed except for the seat he was sitting in. The wreck killed two,
and my dad and another survived. Neither my dad nor the other
survivor has any recollection of the wreck or even the earlier parts
of that day, so the cause of the wreck is completely unknown. My dad
was in a coma for 6 days and his friend for 14 days. My dad had
suffered severe injury to his left arm which left it mangled. The
doctors tried to save it by removing veins from his leg and placing
them in the detached part of his arm to increase circulation to save
the blood flow, but it failed. He had started suffering from a severe
case of an infection called Gangrene, which meant his skin and muscle
tissues were dying and decaying. His arm had to be amputated and he
now wears a prosthetic. His friend was told he would never walk again
as he broke the vertebrae on his spine and was left fully paralyzed.
The doctors were wrong. He is walking, although with a limp, and can
do almost everything for himself.

Driver
education is so important in general, but to me personally because it
hits home. Of course, accidents that are out of our control will
happen and continue to happen. I also believe that death is
inevitable. I am strong in my faith and believe that whenever and
however God says we will die is his word and it will be done.
However, we are responsible for knowing what to do and what not to do
while behind the wheel. For example, we know the dangers and the most
common outcome of drinking, being under the influence of a
psychoactive drug, texting, and being distracted in any other way
while driving, so why do we continue to do them? Educating new
drivers correctly from the start can make a difference in how they
drive in the future. Sugar coating the dangers of driving will not
help anything. Drivers ed is only effective when the reality of
the dangers are taught. For example, I took an 8 hour driving course
from 8 a.m to 4 p.m and it was filled with great information.
Admittingly, I don’t remember every single word that they said, but
a few things do stick with me. They showed many graphic videos of
what happens if you don’t wear a seatbelt, if you are intoxicated
or high while behind the wheel, and other instances such as speeding.
They also included shocking statistics about how often deaths related
to those things happen amongst our age group. Before showing the
video about seatbelts, the instructor asked us to raise our hand if
we wear a seatbelt every time we enter a car. Only about 50% of us
raised our hands which was surprising to me. He then showed a
commercial of 2 people in a car where only 1 was wearing a seatbelt.
They had gotten into a car accident, and the soul of the one who
wasn’t wearing his seatbelt left his body, implying that he died.
The soul of the one who was wearing a seatbelt was trying so hard to
leave his body but couldn’t squeeze through the seat belt so it
went back inside of his body, and the person survived. The video left
many of us with chills. He then asked us the question again and
everybody raised their hands. This tactic of ‘scaring’ us into
being safe actually worked. One important driving tip that I’ve
learned to be effective is to watch other drivers closely. I remember
during my driving lesson, the instructor told me that I could be the
safest, most responsible driver in the world but it wouldn’t
matter. She explained that although I could be following all of the
rules and being safe on my part, I could never possibly know what’s
going on in someone else’s car. They could be under the influence,
they could be texting, they could be distracted by a child; anything.
She told me to always be prepared to protect myself. Another tip that
she gave me was to not look at the back of the car in front of me
only, but to look way ahead of that car and all of the other cars
around me too. She gave the example that something could suddenly
happen two cars ahead of me and if I’m already alert and watching,
I could quickly take cautious measures before the car in front of me
does. The last helpful tip that I’d learned was to always expect
the unexpected. Driving shouldn’t be a scary stressful task but it
is important to stay on your guard and anticipate that anything could
happen. Have a safe game plan in mind if something were to happen,
like if someone were to suddenly pull out in front of you or swerve
into your lane, is also mandatory. All of these safety steps can be
taken to prevent injury and death related to driving. As a driver, I
take all of these initiatives to protect myself and to protect other
drivers. If we all look out for ourselves and each other on the road,
things would be so much safer. My mom always tells me that every time
I get into the car, “My life and the lives of everyone around me is
at risk” and that statement sticks with me as soon as I step foot
into my vehicle. Simply educating everyone about driving could reduce
unsafe driving habits and most importantly: reduce what happens every
16 minutes.