I Saw the Sparks

I saw the sparks. I did not see the buildup or the fatality. My eyes were drawn to the volatile combination of metal and asphalt as the driverless motorcycle careened down the road, spewing a blazing stream behind it.

On January 9, 2021, my dad was driving my sister and I home from soccer practice. It was an unseasonably warm day, nearing 40 degrees under a crisp blue sky. We stopped at a red light behind a motorcyclist, helmet on but no other riding equipment. He was likely out for a quick joyride on the backroads near home. When the light turned green, the motorcyclist put some space between us, still in our line of sight but no longer in close proximity. It was my dad who saw the car stopped at a side street, deciding whether or not she had enough room to pull out. After a brief hesitation, she committed, cutting off the motorcyclist and clipping his tire. The impact sent him hurtling from his bike.

I saw the sparks.

My father saw the rider smack into the woman’s back tire. His neck snapped, and he was sent spinning off onto the shoulder. The car stopped, but nobody emerged. This left my dad to be the first responder. He parked our truck at an awkward angle. (I know now that it was to shield my sister and I from seeing the aftermath. He called 9-1-1. The operator asked if the victim had any signs of covid. My dad said that he, sadly, had no signs of life. They asked if he was positioned on his front or back. Front. They asked if he could safely turn him over to begin CPR. He explained that though the man was on his front, he could clearly see his face, and CPR would not be enough to resuscitate him.

Driver education and defensive driving courses are the essential cornerstones of roadway safety. A doctor would not pick up a scalpel without having studied the anatomy of her patient and the intricacies of the surgery. Isn’t this true of anyone who employs any tool to get the job done? When the job is getting from here to there, it is more than one life on the line, so the stakes are even higher. Every driver who is not fully educated on the laws and on the vehicle he commands is putting himself and others at risk.

Though there are millions of accidents each year and tens of thousands of fatalities, the one my family and I witnessed can represent them in microcosm. Right of way, speed limits, driver awareness, vehicle operation, sharing the road. There are so many buzzwords that I recall from my own driver’s education courses, test, and road hours. I received my permit just one year after this accident and my license the following year. By nature, I am a cautious driver, and I think my formal education and that, unfortunate, street education combined to make me so.

Now, going back to my doctor analogy- during a surgery, no doctor would take a personal call, check her incoming snaps, or even ask for the hospital to change its easy listening station. Yet how many drivers are distracted by some of these same tasks as they power a several ton vehicle at high speed down a crowded highway? In any performed task, there is a degree of human error, and we, as drivers, have a responsibility to limit that degree instead of magnifying it by driving distracted.

The first step to becoming a better and safer driver is education. This does not just mean passing a test because we can study and forget driving basics. We need to carve out time to better examine scenarios and what they mean to the statistics and facts. The next step is practice. I was fortunate that, beyond my required hours, my parents did a lot of hands-on driving with me while I had my driver’s permit. This gave me the opportunity to get a better handle on my vehicle and become a more efficient and confident driver. The third step is to limit distractions, especially from passengers and phones. As new drivers, there are enough new stimuli to challenge us, and it is easy to become overloaded with too much extra sensory diversions. The final step is making others aware. To me, that can be as easy as lowering the volume when friends are driving or reminding them to slow down and take in their surroundings. That can be tough, especially for teenagers, but it is even more valuable for us as new drivers.

January 10, 2021: I committed myself to be a safe driver. It does not take being involved in, or witnessing, an accident to commit yourself to being a safe driver. I saw the sparks, but we can all spark change in each other’s driving habits and make the roads a safer place.