Keeping each other safe on the road

DMV Essay

For many Americans, a knock on a door from local law enforcement at 3 AM is not something they will ever have to experience. However, for far too many families in the United States, this is one experience they wish they would have never had to have. It’s an all too common sight, the large pile-ups on the morning news cast, the local newspaper covering another young teens death from a car accident, the cross in the ditch off the side of a highway. The statistics and annual reports all say the same thing, motor vehicle accidents are preventable and take too many lives every year. How do we start to curb this trend? It starts by normalizing the conversation about safe driving.

That knock on the door for my family came in the morning hours on July 13, 2014. My brother lost his life in an all too preventable car accident in a rural part of the county I reside in. Since that night, I have been committed to normalizing and destigmatizing the conversation around safe driving. When I took driver’s education a few years after my brother’s accident, I found it refreshing that the course instructor felt the same way I did about talking about how we, as new drivers, could be the change. For many of my classmates, that was the first conversation they had about how dangerous driving can be. Drivers education plays a crucial role in the way kids begin to think about the kind of driver they want to be.

We can come up with ideas to try to stop these unsafe practices, but when someone makes that decision for themself, there is not much a community can do. This is why I believe that starting the conversation with young teens and adults can make the difference. Some might say, talking about it can only accomplish so much, and they’d be right. Personally, I find visual aids very useful, so how can we rope visual aids into safer driving? By having schools host mock crashes. Mock crashes are a popular way to show how dangerous driving can be, and is a good way for local Law Enforcement, Fire, and EMS to get valuable training.

My experience losing my brother in a car accident has no doubt influenced the way I conduct myself when I am behind the wheel. Having known how dangerous and how powerful motor vehicles are has not only rubbed off on me, but also my friends and family. I can take steps to safer driving by putting down the phone while driving, always wearing a seat belt, and keeping my eyes on the road at all times. I know that I can do these things, but it’s also important to remind my family and friends to do the same when riding with them. Looking out for yourself, but also one another, can make the difference when practicing safe driving habits.

There is no way around it, distracted driving is an epidemic on America’s roadways. We all can do better when it comes to safe driving practices, but it should also be up to us to make sure other motorists are safe while sharing the road. When we all watch out for one another, it makes for safer roadways, and less 3 AM door knocks.