No driving while tired

When I was 14 my mom started to teach me how to drive. It was very stressful but fun at the same time. Mom was nervous too, but she was very helpful and patient with me. It was an exciting time because I felt like I was grown.

I was told about a tragedy within my family regarding driving while impaired since I was very young. My Uncle was 20 yrs. old when he passed away due to the driver of the vehicle, he was riding in fell asleep at the wheel. The driver, my brother and a friend were all going back to college after a day out shopping and hanging out. The driver fell asleep and went off the road and hit a tree. The driver survived but my uncle did not.

My family has been greatly impacted by this and they have spent most of my life teaching me and requiring me to be an attentive defensive driver. It was sometimes annoying and sometimes made me scared to drive. Sometimes I have gotten lazy with my driving and thinking I will never get hurt. I haven’t always chosen to do what would be the best choices when driving. I like to drive fast. I like to have fun with my friends while out driving. We like to have fun and go driving in large towns and just be kids. I have done stupid stuff while driving just to see what it would be like to drive 100 or drive with no lights on. Or just not always paying close enough attention and come close to going into the ditch because I wasn’t keeping my eyes on the wheel. Sometimes I like to listen to music and mess with my phone so I can look through my play list and pic songs.

I have made my parents nervous with my driving at time. With the world of technology and the creation of the app “Life 360”, I haven’t gotten away with much! Because of their nervousness and need for me to understand how my driving can affect my life and others they made me take defensive driving course. I was pretty upset they made me do it. My mom went with me. It ended up being fun and very interesting. I got to drive fast. I drove distracted and saw what it was like riding with others doing the same. I got to do spins and cool stuff like that. It ended up being fun. The person who started the course had lost their child due to a driving accident. It made it feel close to home listening to the story and seeing pics. Makes it a lot more relatable when you see pictures and hear the story of when the police come to your house and tell you someone has died in a car accident. Pretty sad too!

I have had to pay attention a lot more and try to remember what I have been taught and not feel like nothing will ever happen to me. I don’t want to hurt my self or someone else. I don’t want my family to ever have to get a visit from the police to say something has happened to me.

I think it is very important that all kids understand how easy it would be for them to cause an accident and possibly hurt someone else or even themselves when driving inattentive or impaired. With my family having to suffer through a loss due to the negligence of another it has been a hard lesson to live with and try to not be in those footsteps again.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have my uncle with us. Sometimes I think about the kid that was driving. What does he live with? Did he change how he thought about driving? My parents talk to me about insurance and how much it cost for me to be on their insurance. They tell me it will cost even more if I am in an accident. I don’t understand insurance but from what they tell me, it is important.

I never thought it would be this stressful to be a driver. I do understand the car isn’t a toy when driving. I think all kids really need to be told what and how their driving will affect others. We don’t need to be scared but we do need to take this seriously. Some of my friends don’t think and have already had a few tickets and accidents. I think the parents aren’t strict enough with them because I think they may end up being in an accident or cause one. I really hope not.