Drive Safely

When I drive here in Houston, I notice so many drivers on the road making careless mistakes like not signaling, or driving aggressively, and pretty much everyone on the street speeding. From my experience having taken the driving test, I believe there should be stricter criteria for a driver’s license road test, whether that be a higher passing score requirement or more categories to meet.

I have seen people make mistakes while driving and I unfortunately have been in a car accident, and it was due to a misplaced confidence in my driving skills. After grocery shopping with my mom, I was invited out to a movie with two of my friends at around 9 p.m. on a Friday. The skies seemed clear at first so my mom was happy to let me go in her car afterward, but as we got closer to home, it started to drizzle, and then shower, and by the time we got home it was raining. My mom asked me if I was sure I could drive in such conditions and I quickly expressed how confident I was in my driving skills, so my mom reluctantly let me go. Before I even reached the highway, it was pouring rain and I couldn’t tell how heavy it really was. I drove carefully on the highway, staying in the right lane, and staying under the speed limit, but cars began to speed by me so I accelerated to match the flow of traffic. I approached my exit and as I came down the ramp, only then did I realize the GPS was directing me to the U-turn lane at the light. I made my way into the lane going 40mph and realized how quickly I was approaching the turn, but simply compressed the brakes, like I’d done many times before, only now, the road had accumulated a layer of water with a depth of just one-tenth of an inch or more. The car neglected to slow down. I pushed my foot down to the floor as I saw the turn get closer and closer but the car still maintained its speed, quickly realizing the car wouldn’t stop, I automatically steered into the turn, but to no avail, and finally, the car came to a sudden halt, and my body jolted forward. The windshield wipers swayed back and forth and I could only hear the sound of wind from inside of the car which in my mind meant I had blown a hole through the right side of the car. As I tried to drive away, I could hear the squealing of the right tire but the car would still go so I made my way out from under the highway to find a place off of the road and safe to get out and see what I’d done. I quickly noticed how the car constantly lost traction on the right wheel and struggled to keep the car straight. I made it to a parking garage close by and built up the courage to call my mom after I had come to terms with my mistakes.

The damage to the car was expensive but not nearly as bad as I had feared. I ended up paying back a good chunk of the expenses for repairs and insurance, but I gained a lesson from an experience that I’ll never forget and hopefully that I will never repeat. I had to learn the hard way, but many teen driver’s become wildly overconfident once they’ve had minimal experience with driving and, like in my case, that confidence can be misplaced, and then mistakes can be made. I was lucky enough to be able to learn from my mistakes but some aren’t so lucky. This particular accident is a very good example of the dangers of driving in the rain. My first mistake was driving in heavy rain in the first place. When it rains heavily, all the cars on the road are experiencing the same thing so the chance of an accident is already much higher. My second mistake was driving on the highway. I should have taken the feeder road or even better, backroads with a lower speed limit, at the first sign of heavy rain. Hydroplaning is possible when there is a depth of a tenth of an inch or more of water, and a car goes through it at 50 miles per hour, but it can happen even as low as 30 miles per hour. It becomes very difficult to see how much water is really on the road so your best bet is to drive slowly when there is heavy rain.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see way too often among friends is texting while driving. Distracted driving is the most common cause of car accidents and texting is a clear reason for that. I unfortunately bear witness to my friends and even family looking down to their phones while manning their car and it always makes me very anxious, to the point that I will sternly tell them to focus on the road and put down their phone. One of my classmates became a perfect example of why not to text and drive when he drove straight into a traffic sign. His accident was a perfect reminder to my peers of the consequences that come with distracted driving. It remains a huge problem, and you can help by not being a part of that problem, and discouraging texting and driving when you see it. There are hands free device holders and generally just being mindful of your surroundings whether you are the driver or passenger.

Driver’s safety involves constant decision making and not putting yourself in dangerous situations, like driving in harsh conditions, or using your phone on the road. It is important to keep in mind that everyone else on the road is faced with the same choices, which is all the more reason to stay aware of your surroundings. Better driver’s education and defensive driving lessons would see new drivers be more mindful of their choices when they take to the streets, and could be the difference between life and death.