Habit and Guilt: How Driver’s Education Saved My Life

Driver’s education was a crucial steppingstone in building my confidence as a young driver. I was enrolled in driver’s education during my sophomore year, and I passed the course with the highest grade out of a hundred students—I even earned extra credit on my final driving test. I felt on top of the world, like I could go anywhere, do anything. What I learned, sitting in that driver’s ed auditorium, were things that could have barred me from the great trouble I would soon face. Driver’s education drilled many concepts into my brain; don’t text and drive, follow the speed limit, go slow on gravel roads etc. However, as a young driver, I decided that I knew better. After all, I was top of my class.

Two weeks after I got my license, I was backing out of my driveway in a hurry and hit the front of my brother’s car, crushing his headlight. I was startled and slightly unnerved, but I quickly forgot the accident and continued to drive as carelessly as before. Time went on. One weekend in September I decided to get out of my small town and do something fun. I drove a few hours north, spent the night with a camp friend. On my way home, I was blasting music, feeling confident, refreshed, and ready to face the world again. About ten minutes into my drive, I unbuckled my seatbelt to pull off my jacket. I remember staring at that buckle, and contemplating leaving it undone—it was so tight, so restrictive. But something from my driver’s ed days kicked in, and out of a mixture of habit and guilt, I buckled back in.

Less than ten minutes later, I found myself crumpled across my windshield, my car teetering sideways in a ditch. I had looked down—just for a millisecond, to change songs on my Spotify. I hit the gravel shoulder in the road. Startled, I flung my head up and saw that I was approaching a curve. I hit the brakes and my back end began to fishtail. I quickly jerked the wheel, swerved across both lanes of traffic and drove seventy miles per hour into the opposite ditch. I remember waking up sprawled across my crushed windshield, my car hanging sideways. I remember how I couldn’t see straight; my eyes wouldn’t focus. I was trapped inside my car. The vehicle behind me quickly came to the rescue, pulling me out of the car and calling an ambulance. I came out of that crash with a few stiches, a substantial concussion, and some soreness. Had I not put my seatbelt back on, I wouldn’t have come out of that crash at all.

My accident was terrifying and unnerving, and I will always remember the way my mother looked at me the night I got home from the hospital. Her eyes bored into me like I was a ghost, or as if I’d been healed of an incurable disease. The fact that I had emerged alive was as lucky as a million four-leaf clovers, and as impossible as a miracle. In my family, we had only experienced death when it came to car accidents. Two of my mom’s brothers had passed away in a car accident, one when she was fourteen and her other brother just three years ago. My father’s stepmom had also passed away in a car accident a few years prior to that. I count myself lucky, yes, but I also consider the small piece of driver’s education that I did abide by, to be my saving grace.

What has changed since then? I no longer drive seventy miles per hour, I don’t get in a vehicle without buckling my seatbelt, I abide by the speed limit, and I check twice before turning or backing out. Though the temptation is strong, especially among kids my age, I no longer look at my phone while driving; I don’t even touch it. According to Forbes magazine, “Each year, approximately 3,000 people lose their lives to car accidents resulting from distracted drivers.” The article goes on to say that, “Distracted driving costs lives throughout the year. A total of nine people die every day in the United States from distracted driving” (Forbes, 2023). If we as drivers were to band together and commit to driving undistracted, we could save 3,000 lives per year. That bit of driver’s ed that I did abide by the day of my crash, by buckling my seatbelt, is the very thing that saved my life. I now follow these driver’s education guidelines not out of guilt or misguided trust in some ‘program.’ No, I lived and breathed the consequences of not sticking to these teachings. Now I drive with the safety of my own life and the safety of those around me constantly on my mind.

Taking a driver’s education course is vital to reducing the number of automobile deaths. For one, driver’s education is a visual course, showcasing personal testimonies, videos, and pictures of car accidents and traffic fatalities. These visual mediums drill the dangers of driving deeply into young kids’ minds. Students often hear for the first time the statistical correlation between dying in an accident and distracted driving. By simply making the upcoming generation aware, we can save thousands of lives and eliminate distracted driving, speeding, and reckless driving. As a survivor of a terrifying and life-threatening accident, and as a student who took driver’s education, I will continue to advocate for safe driving habits, and live as an alert and actively cautious driver.