Defensive Driving Will Save Your Life

“Driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles? That’s light work.” That’s what I thought to myself as I started my engine, backed out of the driveway and entered the 101 freeway. “It’s only 300 miles. It can’t hurt,” is what I thought to myself. It hurt a lot. Maybe, I just wasn’t used to driving yet. But god, that drive could’ve been way better. I’m in the driver’s seat driving on the very long, very straight, monotonous stretch of road called the highway I-5. I take a quick glance towards my left, there are stretches and stretches of farmland with distant mountains. On the right, there is just dirt and sand with the occasional speed trap. There’s that one mile long stretch on the highway that just smells of cow dung. I trail behind a semi-trailer truck going at 60 miles per hour. Right beside that semi truck, is another semi truck going at the same exact speed. I trailed behind these two for an hour. I wonder if it was someone else in my position, would they have done a dangerous maneuver just to save an hour? Is it worth it?

The education of drivers today is of utmost importance. This is especially the case because those same drivers are responsible for driving multi-ton metal machines at 60 miles per hour on a daily basis. I’ve seen many drivers on the road not only do a rolling stop at a stop sign, but some do not even attempt to stop. It results in me, as a pedestrian, getting almost severely injured or me, as a driver, getting into an accident. I’ve seen drivers cut lanes without the thought of looking over their shoulder entering their mind. Sadly, I was once one of these drivers.

When I was learning how to drive and I had my permit and before my license, I was driving on the freeway with my driving instructor sitting in the front seat. I was driving on the freeway, and there was light traffic. This was one of my first times driving on the freeway. It naturally made me nervous. I was driving in the middle lane. The driving instructor asked me to cut to the adjacent left lane. I signaled, I looked in the mirrors, and I looked over my shoulder. However, I looked over my shoulder for too long that I didn’t realize that the freeway was slightly curved towards the left, and so I was slowly drifting towards and into the right lane. My driving instructor immediately saw this and reached over to correct the steering wheel. But the car drifted enough into the right lane that a car in the right lane honked. I think this incident is a result of insufficient driving education. Even though I was still learning, there are guaranteed to be drivers out there who have made the same mistakes as me. They may have potentially got into accidents causing serious injuries and even fatalities.

Why is the education of drivers today important? The education of drivers is important because it not only reduces the amount of accidents on the road but especially the reduction of fatal accidents. I feel as too many drivers hyperfocus too much on who’s “at fault” that they don’t realize how their actions may lead to accidents. What do I mean by this? Let’s say that a driver is in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a freeway exit. The adjacent car, near where the exit splits from the freeway, wants to squeeze into the space in front of the driver’s car. Because the driver thinks that the adjacent car should’ve merged a while ago, he doesn’t think that the adjacent car deserves the space that is in front of the driver’s car. However, what if the adjacent driver doesn’t let up and merges anyways? That results in conflict. The driver of the car may think he is in the right, but he still got into an accident. The goal ultimately is for you, the driver, to not get into accidents at all. Then, what is the solution?

Defensive driving is the act of being aware of the road environment around you so that you can anticipate and react to potential dangerous situations. Some examples of defensive driving actions include maintaining a safe space between your car and the car you’re following, checking your blind spots, not being in people’s blind spots, scanning for potential dangers, etc. Ultimately, you can perform the safest actions possible while driving but still be involved in an accident. However, by performing defensive actions, you can lower your chances of severe injury or fatality. Happy safe driving everyone.