How Reckless Driving Has Changed My Perspective on Drivers Safety

Why do people feel terrified? This feeling can be for many reasons. These fears include a fear of spiders or another animal, public speaking, etc. But for me, the moment that I was the most terrified was almost being in a car crash. Most days during middle school, my best friend’s dad used to drive her and me to school. He was funny and was always trying to make us laugh. I did not understand the consequences of not paying attention while driving at the time. I would laugh along with his jokes and silly humor. Until one day, he decided he wanted to try and make us laugh. He decided to take his hands off the steering wheel, instead driving with his one knee on the wheel and the other on the accelerator. 

“Look girls, look what I’m doing!” He cheered. She and I immediately thought it was hilarious. An adult not driving with their hands? Who even does that?! It blew my eleven-year-old mind. Until, he swerved too far to the other side of the street and seemingly grazed the car driving by. He didn’t stop, didn’t speak, and just kept driving with one knee on the wheel and one foot on the accelerator. I panicked. I had heard about car crashes but I had never gotten into any danger on the road. I heard horror stories from my parents, neighbors, and the news. What if I die? What if I never get to see my family again? I know this was dramatic, but I was frightened because he didn’t stop. It was like he didn’t even realize what he was doing. We got to the school safely, with him smiling and laughing, like it was just a ride in the car for him and his daughter. But for me, it changed the way I view driving and how to drive safely.

The importance of driver education is critical, especially in teenagers. If all teenagers got more strict driver education, there would be a decrease in more instances like eleven-year-old me being terrified in the backseat of my best friend’s dads car, thinking that he was going to crash and we would all die. If he had gotten the proper driver safety instructions when learning to drive, I wouldn’t have been in that position. This early driving instruction for teenagers is so important. If everyone got the proper education and lessons when it comes to driving and knew the consequences of what happens when you don’t drive safely, it could save millions of lives. The main three causes of car-related deaths are speeding, alcohol impairment, and occupants of a car not using a seatbelt (National Safety Council). All three of these causes of death were brought on by a lack of safety concerns, and being able to get drivers to understand the consequences of their actions could save lives in the long run.

When I was getting my permit, there were many online videos you have to watch from the state of Wisconsin that teach new drivers how to drive, what to do in emergencies, why it’s important to follow the safety laws, etc. I paid attention to those videos and learned lessons from them. Many of my peers did not. I heard from multiple friends at the time about how they just let the videos play until the daily limit, and never paid attention. This is a giant safety concern, because if you don’t know what the driving safety laws are and how they prevent deaths, how are you supposed to follow them? Keeping students more engaged in their learning about driving will greatly decrease the amount of reckless driving by most teenagers. This can be done by having an in-person classroom instead of online videos. That way, an actual instructor will teach the safety laws directly to students’ faces, rather than through a video screen. This will also help with many students not actually watching the critical safety videos, instead skipping right to recklessly driving. 

To become a better driver, you have to believe in your actions. What I mean by this is if you have people in your ear telling you that you’re being too careful and aren’t being fun, know that you are potentially saving lives. Also, being able to voice your concerns to family members and friends that you see recklessly driving could save your life. If I had dared to speak up in the car with my best friend and her dad when he was driving recklessly, I might not have been so terrified. Driving education is so important, and making changes in your personal life, to huge companies making significant changes to their teaching of driver safety, the number of people that die from car-related safety problems can decrease dramatically, and that is one of the most important goals to me.