Back Home To My Mom

In 2022, there were 42,514 deaths caused by motor vehicle crashes in the United States alone. Some of the most common causes of car accidents can include things such as drunk driving, texting, aggressive or reckless behavior and much more; However, the most common denominator of this all is the notion of being distracted while behind the wheel. Especially, evident to younger age demographic as they are incapable of truly understanding the consequences that can follow their operation of such dangerous machines. Thus, it is imperative that students be mandated to take courses focused on Driver Education as students can learn first-hand the effects of inattentive, reckless, and dangerous driving; and, by encouraging these courses, students can be made more aware of the ramifications that can follow their actions while they’re driving from the very beginning. Educating our younger generations is crucial, but there are many additional steps that can be taken to improve upon road safety. To be more specific, one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent fatalities and injuries is to ensure that society understands the imperative nature of wearing their seatbelt. However, It is also just as essential for drivers to obey the laws set forth by authorities by ensuring that they are not only adhering to the posted speed limits, but adapting their speeds accordingly to changes evident in road conditions, weather, and traffic. Furthermore, to ensure that this is more properly enforced and that individuals are held accountable more speed cameras, better signage, and more efficient road designs should be implemented. In addition to this, we can also encourage drivers to practice defensive driving, which is all about anticipating the potential hazards and possibilities associated with vehicle-usage and developing the skills necessary to react calmly and effectively to them. Though it wasn’t my own, the experience that had the greatest impact on my perception of the dangers of driving was when my Professor’s son was in a terrific car accident. On just a typical Wednesday night, he was driving one of his colleagues home after working a double, and somewhere along-the-way found himself distracted by something at which he instantaneously collided with a wall; In turn, the scene was tragic, his car rolling multiple times and he was ejected from the vehicle. As a result, his brain swelled and they were convinced he was brain-dead on scene, left broken and bruised incapable of being conscious for more than a couple minutes at a time. In our society, we don’t often get to see the vulnerability of individuals, or at the very least hardly recognize it. We see such traumatic instances on a daily basis, spoon-fed to us as a form of entertainment. I, like many others, contribute to this blindness, whether intentional or not. I really never understood the true lengths at which this mindset plagued our perceptions of the world until I watched a grown-man, one typically filled with nothing but joy and humor, on the verge of tears as he explained how he didn’t know if his son was going to live or die. It was heartbreaking to listen to his exclamations of how the little boy he watched grow day by day, now laid incapable of even understanding that he was still by his side; and until then, he lived in fear of not knowing if he would get the chance to tell him how much he loved him. Every day since then, each time someone mentions driving, even if so simply as to the store or work, you can see his experiences sink deeper into the very depth of his soul tugging at his heart as his eyes urge you to air the side of safety. It is because of this that my professor made every one of us promise that no matter what, if we were not fit to drive whether intoxicated or exhausted that we would make the right choice: to live. That experience stuck with me more than anything else, because we truly are not capable of understanding what the tragedies associated with reckless driving are until we are forced to witness the consequences. Thankfully, his son has begun to make some progress that makes my professor and his doctors ever so hopeful that he will be able to regain most of his functionality; However, regardless of this he will never truly be the same. Not much older than, at 21 years old his life has been forever changed. While in reality, we cannot control the actions or choices of another individual, we can do everything in our power to help them understand the consequences that their actions can hold. By understanding that reckless driving can be the difference between someone’s child returning back home to them at the end of the night, or even you yourself being able to laugh and make memories with your loved ones can truly make an enlightening difference on the way you perceive such a common task in our lives. This is something that I try to take into account every time I sit behind a while, I make strides to uphold the preachings of safe driving by not allowing myself to be distracted by external factors such as my cell-phone and obey the traffic laws set for us all. For some their reasons for driving safely may vary, but for me I could never imagine thinking that winning some petty road dispute or trying to look cool to a couple of friends would ever be worth the heartbreak of never coming back home to my mother.