The Power of Giving-Way

Gifts, talents, destinies, discoveries, inventions and potential greatness buried in graveyards due to the thousands of lives that have been cut short through auto involved accidents. “Yield” is the one-word road instruction that could have made a difference. This basic action could have and continues to be the determining factor in someone’s return home. If someone had just given way, countless numbers of accidents and deaths could have been avoided.

Yielding not only means that I am obeying the instruction but also that I am concerned about others and not just myself. Giving way on the road will not take anything away from me. It will not take much of my time, and it might just help me avoid a life altering accident that could leave me with nothing but guilt, debt, and a destroyed future. The truth is that most drivers fail to yield because they are in a rush to get to their destinations. That is why it is important to always give oneself enough time to get to where one is going so that there is no reason to feel rushed or get overly irritated by slower, more cautious drivers.

Though many driving institutions do make a conscious effort to emphasize the importance of safe driving, its importance is dismissed by many U.S. parents who do not enforce the importance of following speed limits, limiting distractions, buckling up, and of course, being conscious of fellow drivers on the road. Not only hearing but witnessing other drivers, such as parents, legal guardians, or other older household members, execute safe driving even after years of driving experience is just one way that we can reduce the number of deaths related to driving, because as we grow, we tend to gravitate towards the habits we see throughout our own home.

I am no stranger to the harmful effects of irresponsible driving. When I was seven years old, my parents and I were on our way home from my visit to the ENT doctor. I remember gazing through the window, viewing Fred Hartman bridge’s signature yellow ropes before I heard my mother scream. As if we were in a slow-motion film, I felt the car shift and watched as the water from down below grew closer in view. By God’s grace, we did not fall overboard, but my side of the door was face to face with the edge of the bridge. I remember my head ringing and my shoulder throbbing as I attempted to comprehend what had just taken place. My mother rushed to tend to my father and I’s wounds as we exited the vehicle. Greeting us outside the car was a large, red 18-wheeler. A small man jumped out of the front seat; his face was full of fear. His failure to check his side mirrors before changing lanes is what had almost cost us our lives. A simple act that could have taken him a few seconds to complete almost placed the blood of a mother, father, and an innocent child on his hands. The day of the accident, the truck driver came close to losing something too. He could have lost his lively hood due to the lawsuits he would have had to endure, he could have temporarily lost his family, as the court room can tear even the closest people apart, and he could have lost time, one of the most precious gifts granted to us by life that is not guaranteed and can easily be taken away.

Having gone through such a vivid experience at a young age, I established with myself a promise that once I set out on the road, I would be a cautious driver who does not let the day-to-day drive become a mindless task. Some of the ways I help myself and others around me achieve this goal of becoming safer drivers is by only driving peers who I know will not distract me from the roads, by connecting my phone to my car’s Bluetooth so that I am not tempted to look at my screen when I get a call, and by carefully choosing the kind of music I listen to while driving, as heavily based music can prompt even the safest drivers to press a little too hard on the gas pedal.

It is easy to take for granted the gift of self-transportation, but it is important to remember that driving is not a right but is a privilege for all those who get behind the wheel.