Who Doesn’t Take a Nap While Driving?

I am such a good driver that I could take a nap behind the wheel and be fine. This of course is the dangerous subconscious mentality that I operated under a few years ago. It seems that mindsets similar to this are shared by drivers all around the country. While it might not be sleeping while driving, it could be texting and driving, driving without a seatbelt, driving while intoxicated, and any number of extraneous tasks that drivers partake in while driving. Although an abundance of media awareness exists for these issues, the root of the issue lies with an inherent problem of pride and lack of self-awareness.

As a senior in high school, I considered myself a rather quiet, humble, self-aware individual. I busied myself with grueling cross-country practices and late nights working on homework for advanced classes. All the while, I was making a 40-minute commute to and from school every day. On a number of occasions, I had caught myself driving drowsy and enduring droopy eyes and head nods. This certainly concerned me but nothing had ever happened and of course, I thought “Nothing will ever happen to me”. Of course, this thought process would prove to be dangerously flawed. One day, after one of the aforementioned practices, I was driving home with my brother. I had been up late the night before reading and had to get up at 6:00 am. I had made it through most of the trip completely fine; in fact, we were only a few miles from our house. One second I was driving – admittedly while tired – the next I was fast asleep. I began to swerve off the road and was heading straight toward a tree. If I somehow would’ve missed the tree, I would’ve gone straight into a boulder instead. By God’s grace alone, my brother yelled my name which gave me just enough time to swerve back onto the road; albeit through the mailbox just in front of the tree. This experience made me realize that I am not invincible. I am not such a great driver that I can drive even while sleepy. This is something that many people need to learn.

With many drivers being improperly educated on driving, the number of deaths due to driving has almost certainly increased. As a sixteen-year-old, I took part in four days of driver’s education in accordance with state regulations in order to get my license early. While much of the time was spent learning about the intricate laws that we would be tested on, some of the lessons that lasted with me were the stories of normal people making life-altering decisions while driving. One of these stories was about one person who took their eyes off the road for a split second to grab a french fry and then he hit someone. This has always stayed with me since french fries are one of my favorite foods. I knew almost for certain that I would be eating french fries while driving. Since learning about that, anytime I get food while driving I can’t help but think about the potential consequences if I decide to eat it. I can’t honestly say that I never eat while driving. To be completely frank, I can’t say that I never use my phone while driving. If I still make poor decisions with the knowledge of the immense consequences, how many more bad choices would I make while being oblivious to the consequences? I might know that texting and driving leads to deaths but I certainly would not be thinking about all the small choices. If more people realized that even something as small as looking down to grab food can change lives then perhaps more people would drive with caution. In full truth, even educated drivers – such as myself – still make poor decisions while driving. This is a result of people being unable to critically analyze their own abilities and humbly assess themselves.

When it comes to driver safety, education plays an important role. Unfortunately, many drivers get their licenses without ever having to learn much beyond basic driving skills (sometimes not even those). Perhaps instituting some kind of written exam for new drivers or required video sessions where individuals will have to learn more rules and stories would help limit the number of deaths that driving causes; however, I’m convinced that the problem has a deeper root. In today’s society, people grow up hearing everyone tell them how their opinions, feelings, and desires are all true. The reality is that this has caused a great number of people to think of themselves more highly than they ought to. If other drivers are anything like me, chances are – whether subconsciously or not – they think that they are too good a driver to let anything like texting while driving, eating while driving, driving drunk, or driving drowsy cause an accident. These people will continue to make dangerous decisions each day as they drive if there is nothing that spreads the truth: we are not as great as we think we are. As drivers, we must all be self-conscious and recognize the prideful patterns that we carry out in our lives. To truly educate people to be safer drivers, they must be convicted and made aware of the arrogant mindsets that poison the lives of our society.