Name: Jabria Bruce
From: Burtonsville, Maryland
Votes: 0
A
Backbone for Safe Driving
My mother told me
to always pray for safe travels, but one day my parents received a
call that my brother and his friend had been in a life-threatening
car accident. When we got to the hospital, we were told that my
brother had a broken backbone, neck and spine and that he would be
paralyzed from the neck down and would never walk again. I was very
worried about my brother and the recovery he would face ahead; the
life he would live never being able to move. I also wondered, why did
this happen? How did this happen? Did he use all of the safety
precautions that I had heard about from my parents? Although I’m a
driver now, I wasn’t a driver when this happened to my brother.
Later we learned that in addition to the road being slippery from
rain, my brother and his friend were distracted at the time of the
accident. They were listening to very loud aggressive music, laughing
and joking and they also did NOT have on their seatbelts. The outcome
of my brother’s life was a hard lesson to learn, which I’ll share
shortly.
I’m a driver
now and I had to take drivers ed class, but my brother did
not have to take a class. For me, taking the class played a major
role in my respect for safety when driving. I remember being in class
watching videos of accidents and it instilling fear in me. The class
taught me about distracted driving and I remember thinking that I
would not be a distracted driver. My brother actually received his
driver’s license in a state that does not require driver’s
education and I do believe that if my brother had taken a driver’s
education class, he would’ve been more attentive to the road or
more safe while driving. I believe that since he did NOT take a
drivers ed class, which would’ve allowed him to see the
possible dangers and effects of distracted driving, he wouldn’t
have taken for granted the seriousness of being safe. He would’ve
remembered RULE NUMBER ONE, PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT AND DO NOT ALLOW
YOUR PASSENGER TO RIDE WITHOUT A SEATBELT, but of course this was not
important to him because he did NOT get reinforcement of this through
a drivers ed class.
Did you know
listening to music while driving is only a distraction when the music
is aggressive and being played loudly. Further, in a study, when it’s
the driver’s own playlist along with it being aggressive and loud,
driving performance worsened with their preferred music. It caused
more traffic violations and errors, engaging in more aggressive
driving behavior, and increasing their risk for distraction. On the
other hand, the study showed that calm music or no music increased
driver awareness which was not the case with my brother.
My brother’s car accident did not end in death, but many do die
from driving accidents. In order to reduce the number of deaths
related to driving, there must be an increased education regarding
driver safety. There should be an abundant number of commercials on
TV and ads on social media, which would reach those who live in
states that do NOT require drivers ed. Those who have had
the education, MUST take what they’ve learned and seriously abide
by it. As I drive up and down the roads, I take heed to what I’ve
learned in class. I even remind my parents to be safe when I see them
doing things that are unsafe while driving. I personally wear my
seatbelt, use my signals, do not ride with friends in my car, listen
to music at lower volumes and I always keep in mind what happened to
my brother when he was driving unsafely. Speaking of my brother, he
went through an excruciating surgery and have pins and bolts in his
body. He went through hard physical therapy that left him crying many
nights. He spent many months in the hospital yearning to walk and go
home, but today, with a long road to recovery far behind him, he can
walk and run and is now a safe driver. Unfortunately, at the expense
of my brothers backbone, we both have developed A BACKBONE FOR SAFE
DRIVING.
