Driving Safe

I am grateful to say I have never been in a car accident that has caused harm to me or any of my loved ones. The same can’t be said about a friend of mine who passed away last year because of a car crash. His passing has impacted me by making me feel the significance of driving safely.

Whenever I am in a car and the driver is driving unsafely, I feel unease throughout my body. The possibility of an incident happening because a family member or any other person chooses to neglect the safety procedures are increased. Driving safely not only keeps the people inside safe they also keep everyone outside in the street safe too.

My brother, for example, does not turn on the blinker when switching lanes or when turning at certain times.

“I don’t need to” or “There is no police around” he replies, when I ask him for the reasoning of his actions. His ignorance to something that can cause a lot of impact even if the act seems minor, could cost the life of multiple human beings in the worst case scenario. I say this because it is common sense and because of my personal experience when I almost crashed while driving.

When I drove in the street with multiple cars for the first time, I did what I learned and turned on my blinker to move to the left lane. When I looked at the left side mirror, my first thoughts were that I am able to move now. As I turned the steering wheel, I must have perceived wrong how close the car in the left lane behind me was because I immediately heard a honk. I look in the rearview mirror and see the car behind me slowed down to let me get in front of him. Luckily for me, he was able to do that because there was no car behind him, if there was one, this story would have gone differently. I could have crashed that day. I imagine how the scenario would have been different if I chose not to turn on my blinker. The car would not have known that I was planning to switch lanes, ultimately not being able to react in time and crash into me.

That day I placed not only my life in danger, I placed my mom in danger as well.

Knowing proper education when it comes to driving is something that should always be prioritized in order to keep everyone safe. I believe less people would die if this is the mindset everyone has whenever they enter their vehicle. Choosing to be ignorant of procedures while driving can cost a life.

Speeding faster than the speed limit, driving while using a phone, driving while intoxicated ,and not signaling the blinker when switching lanes or turning are examples of actions that people do daily because they don’t think today will be the day they get involved in a car accident because it has not happened to them before.

Even if someone has not been involved in an accident, it does not mean they should ignore any procedures to prevent an incident from happening. A way to decrease this is for drivers to do everything in their power to prevent one. Which means using the blinker, driving at the correct speed limit, not driving while using a cell phone or while intoxicated, and not trying to beat the yellow light before it turns red. As well as anything that comes to mind when it comes to driving safely.

Taking action to prevent an accident can also be influenced by your mindset. If one thinks about the impact of their driving and has a mindset of not wanting to cause any accidents then they will do everything in their power to prevent any crash. That means driving at the proper speed limit and everything that is common that everyone should do while driving. Yes, that means even turning on the blinker even if there is no police officer around or any car to signal that you are turning.

Everyone who drove and got into a crash later that day never would have thought they would be involved in an accident while turning on that engine. It is important that the moment one sits in that driver seat that their mindset changes to doing everything in their power to drive safely. While driving any vehicle, one isn’t only driving for themselves, they are driving for everyone inside as well.