Responsibility

I began driving a month after my 16^th birthday when I received my learners permit. I will admit, I was not overly excited to start driving as many of my friends were. I was nervous. I understood the inherent dangers of the simple (and not so simple) act of driving. Billions of people around the world do it every day. But I understood that not all of them made it home. And that scares me. My father told me on several occasions while he was teaching me the driving basics, “It’s not you I’m worried about, it’s all the other bad drivers out there.” Driving is inherent in our society. More and more people start driving every year. It is a necessity for survival in many places. But with so many people and so many motor vehicles out there on the roads together at the same time, the odds just keep getting worse that a person can avoid being in a terrible accident. The only thing I can control is me. So, I have to be the best driver that I can be in order to avoid that accident.

Now I must admit that I have already been in an accident. It was very minor, just some scratches and a dent in the other car and some scratches on mine. It happened because I got confused at a weird intersection and then I got nervous. If I would have just stood still the other car could have gotten around me but I got nervous and hit the gas and we bumped. But the experience was enough to let me know that I definitely do not want to be in any more accidents.

I have figured out that driving is just like any other skill, it takes time and practice to get good at it. And it must be done correctly. I have taken private drivers ed classes as my school had cancelled the driving portion of drivers ed due to Covid. These classes really helped me in getting more comfortable behind the wheel. I had a really good instructor, and he heavily emphasized the defensive aspect of driving. I think this is probably the most important concept one can learn about driving. Being able to recognize situations that can be confusing and dangerous and learning how to avoid them is critical to reducing the number of accidents and potential deaths. Like I said earlier, I can’t control what other drivers do, so I have to be well prepared to react when one of them does something dangerous.

My instructor also taught me about the danger of being distracted when driving. Taking your eyes off the road for a second can cause a catastrophe. A car travelling at 55 miles per hour travels 80 feet per second. If you look at your phone or the radio for 4 or 5 seconds, you have travelled a long distance without having any idea what’s happening in front of the car. Just recently someone my family and I know very well was involved in a terrible incident that cost a life. He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to change a song on his phone and while he wasn’t looking a drunk man stepped out into the roadway in front of him and was killed. Not only was a life lost but another life was changed. I hope I never have to experience what our friend has gone through knowing that he has taken a life, even though it was accidental. It has devastated him.

I like to think that I am setting a good example for people with how I drive. Some of my friends drive aggressively, being very heavy on the gas and weaving through traffic. I have told some of them that I will drive myself instead of having them pick me up. I just don’t feel safe with them, and I told them that. One of my friends took that to heart and said because of what I told him he has consciously tried to be a less aggressive driver. My cousin had asked me once “What’s the fastest you’ve ever driven?” I told him it was probably 70 or so on a road that was a 65-mph limit. He told me the fastest he had driven was 108 mph. I was stunned and I begged him not to do that again. I am worried about him driving and think that I will have to tell his parents if I see him doing anything like that again. I’d hate to lose him.

Driving is such a significant responsibility but because it just seems like “everyone does it” we take it for granted. Once you get behind the wheel of a vehicle weighing more than 4,000 pounds that can travel very fast, you become dangerous to everyone around you. It is implicit upon you to be as safe as possible when you undertake that responsibility. Every time we drive, hundreds if not thousands of people depend on us to not have an accident, just as I depend on them. Driving is a privilege that requires education, attention and understanding. If a driver cannot dedicate himself or herself to those things, they should not be behind the wheel. There is too much at stake.