Back in My Day

The year was 1989. I was about seven years old. My step brother had just finished putting nitrous in his Chevy Vega. I was in the back seat when he took it out on the initiation run. Straight through our little town. The car was loud. It was so loud in fact, it set the alarms off at the bank and got the attention of police. The lights were flashing in the back window when my step brother turned off the main road and tore down an alley. Eventually he came to the back of my house where he jumped the curb and was airborne before he slid the car to a stop in my backyard and ran in the house. The police circled the block for a while before coming to the front door. My brother assured them he would keep an ear out for the car and report any suspicious activity.

This is how I grew up. In the back of the truck. In the backseat of a race car, with no seat belt. We were motor sport people. Motorcycles, Corvettes, boats, jet skis, big loud trucks, anything with a motor that could be modified to become dangerous. Growing up like this I was told that it wasn’t fear I was experiencing at high rates of speed, it was excitement. No harm ever came to any of us on account of our fuel and fire addiction. It wasn’t until high school that I saw the danger in automobiles. It’s never the kid no one knows, or doesn’t like. It’s always a good friend, a good person.

It was our senior party. The day of high school graduation. I can’t tell you his name, but he died alone on a gravel road after drinking too many beers with his friends. I did it. We all did it. It was quite normal to go out on the dead end road and spend the night trying new liquor and drinking beer. We are midwesterners after all. That was 2001. Drunk driving laws didn’t change in our state until 2014. Once the laws changed, your first offense was loss of driving privileges and a restriction after that. The bars all but shut down. There had been one every few miles between towns. After the laws changed no one seemed to want to drive from town to town drinking and driving.

Today we have new gadgets and distractions endangering our daily commutes. We thought it was amazing when TVs started to come standard in mini vans. This keeps the children occupied on trips. Great invention. That invention multiplied into tiny TVs we hold in our hands. I’m referencing our cellular phones. This is the newest danger working against our safety right now. Seeing that a person is hot rodding a car through a residential neighborhood, or driving under the influence of a substance is fairly easy to recognize. Knowing that the person in front, behind or coming at you is distracted by their phone is not an easy thing to notice. Not until it’s too late.

We get out there on the road with nothing but faith that the people we share the road with are as committed to making it back to their families safety; as we are. We are going anywhere from 40 to 80 miles an hour, simply trusting each other to stay in their lane. There is a degree of social comradery that goes into driving. We are not just responsible for the people in our vehicle, we are also responsible for the lives of the people we share the road with. That is why driver safety is a priority.

There is a communal commitment you take on when you get behind the wheel of a vehicle. We are all out there together. We are trusting each other and we are relying on each other. One thing I was taught in my lifetime as a motor head was offensive driving. This is a style of driving where you anticipate the movements of the vehicles around you. I have found this helpful throughout my life. Driving like everyone is a threat. Now, in this day and age, you have to drive like everyone around is on their phone. Because, they just might be. It takes one second for an animal to run out, or the road to curve. That second could cost someone their life. Responsibility and consideration of the severity of the consequences need to be a priority taught in driver safety classes today. It isn’t about you, your messages, your selfies, or your likes. It’s about all of us getting home safe.