What I Learned From a Car Crash

Years ago, it was a dark morning with light sprinkles of rain. My mother was taking my sister to school, but around an hour later I got a call saying that they had been in an accident. Worry and panic filled my mind because I knew nothing except that they had been in an accident. I was soon informed that they were all right, but they endured just a few minor concussions and a beat-up car. Later on, that day, my mother explained to me what happened. She told me that she was driving at the speed limit, and then the sky opened up and a heavy downpour started. They were driving under a bridge and went into the passing lane to pass an eighteen-wheeler. She drove from under the bridge then her car started to hydroplane, and spin. Soon she was headlight to headlight with the eighteen-wheeler truck. They missed the semi-truck and continued to slide off the road. The car ended up hitting a tree in the tree line. When my mother got everyone out of the car she looked and saw that the tree saved their life. The tree was uprooted and holding the car up, but without that tree, they would have fallen and crashed into the raven. My mother has always worked to be a safe driver and sadly this accident was out of her control. But she has always helped to teach and show me how to be a safe and defensive driver.

It is extremely important for everyone to know driving skills, and one can learn these skills because of driver education. A driver’s education is important because it teaches you the laws of driving and confidence behind the wheel, and it enhances your driving skills. Driving laws are one of the most important things a driver can learn to help reduce the number of deaths. When you know the law, you understand the rights and wrongs when driving, which helps keep you and others safe. One must have confidence behind the wheel, especially for new inexperienced drivers. I myself struggle with this and the lack of confidence can cause over-correcting, second-guessing yourself, and you are constantly worrying which means you are not focused on the correct things. Driver’s education also teaches you what responsible driving looks like. Young and new drivers who are taught by their parents can often unknowingly pick up irresponsible driving habits from them. For example, although my mother was driving the speed limit, she was going too fast for the conditions. So driver education can help you strengthen your driving skills, differentiate between good and bad habits, and how to be an efficient defensive driver. These are just some of the many skills that will be able to amplify yours and others’ road safety overall.

There are a number of deaths in the United States from car crashes, so we have to take a step back and look at what is causing those deaths. Some of the main causes of car accidents in the United States are distracted driving, driving over the speed limit, drinking and driving, reckless driving, and this list goes on and on. Now we have to think where we went wrong, so I decided to take a look at countries like Norway and Switzerland which are some of the safest countries to drive in. The US average age to drive is 16 while in places like Norway and Switzerland the average age to drive is at the age of 18. These countries also have utterly no tolerance for speeding and reckless driving; they prevent this with driving lessons and tests that are infamously thorough, and speeding fines that are very high. I believe the steps that we should take to reduce the number of deaths related to driving are the same steps that are taken in Norway and Switzerland. We may not be able to increase the driving age or stop people from drinking. But we can always increase speeding fines, higher fines mean people are more likely to change what they are doing when it directly affects them, especially their pockets. It can also be encouraged when renewing your license to take a driving refresher course to help keep people up to date on all the driving laws and expectations.

When I see a parent using their phone while driving whether it be to respond to a text or answer a call I often offer to help by taking their phone and typing out whatever message or task needs to be done on the phone. This can keep both of us safe without then having to be a distracted driver. As a new and young driver myself I too have been working on decreasing my distractions while driving, and I do this by turning off my phone notifications, I make sure I don’t drive with my peers because I have a harder time staying focused with them in the car with me, I don’t listen to much of any music so my focus can be one hundred percent on driving and my surroundings. I can not ask others to be safer drivers if I myself do not follow the laws and practice safe driving skills.