Driving Safely; For Yourself and For Others

You’ve just received a shiny new car, your first car, and the last thing on your mind is the other people that will inevitably interact with it on the road. You can’t wait to drive your friends around, visit places you’d never been able to walk to before, to have the freedom to come and go as you please. You aren’t actively registering the danger you’re in as you merge onto the highway, you’re just glad to be there. Maybe you turn to your friend for a moment, I mean, you’re just so happy to finally take some initiative in your own life and to be able to live as you’ve always wanted.

But just like that, the new life you’d set up in your mind, the one you’d live out through long road trips and late night drives, is over. As you’d looked away to smile at your friend, the friend you’d graciously picked up for a quick drive around town, you’d failed to notice the vehicle veering towards you. By the time your eyes returned to the road, it was too late to correct the mistake that had been made, and all you could do then was prepare for the impact.

This is the reality of many young drivers. There is an air of superiority and invincibility that comes with receiving a license. It feels refreshing, vitalizing, it’s new and interesting and all you want to do is brag about how it’s yours. Most new drivers feel this way, and it isn’t an inherently negative perspective to hold. It is new, it is interesting, but it’s also dangerous. This is the fact that many fail to realize.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average weight of a vehicle in 2022 was 4,094 pounds. This is a terrifying and almost unimaginable number, a number in which thousands of teenagers have total control over. They can swerve, turn, speed, and slow as they like. Yet again, these qualities are not inherently negative. There are safe drivers, there are cognizant drivers, there are people that focus entirely in order to ensure their and others’ safety when on the road. These drivers cannot be made without education, though.

Education of previously ignorant (whether willfully or un-willfully) vehicle operators directly decreases the amount of deaths caused by road accidents. When an individual is completely aware of their role and responsibilities on the road, they are better equipped to carry out those responsibilities. For example, a first time car-owner in High School may be aware of the use of a turn signal, how helpful it is, but its importance may not be stressed enough in their mind. Perhaps they move to merge into the lane beside them, fail to activate their signal, and now being on the opposing side of the introductory situation, end up impacting the car that had not known they were coming.

This is a potential accident that could have been unarguably avoided. With proper focus, perhaps the first driver wouldn’t have looked away from the road, and would have been better able to fall-back from the oncoming vehicle. On the other hand, though, with proper driver education, perhaps the second driver would have signaled his merge, the light being bright and indicative enough for the first driver’s eye to be caught. It is difficult to say what would and wouldn’t happen, but one fact is true: Accidents are avoidable.

Drivers can check themselves, can limit distractions, can wholly center their attention to the road and its occupants. All of these will play a part in increased safety, but they will only do so if all drivers are practicing them. One reckless vehicle can cause insurmountable damage to many other safe vehicles. Driving, even though it may not seem like it, is similar to a team activity. Everyone must do their part.

Personally, I have never been the perpetrator of an accident or a participant in an accident that caused anything beyond aesthetic damage. I am, though, an excruciatingly cautious driver. The thought of finding myself in a roadside catastrophe is particularly frightening, and I’d like to do everything in my power to prevent it. I ensure my own safety, first, with seat-belts and doors. I rarely listen to music, even, as the idea of it drowning out important auditory indicators is very prevalent in my mind. When I am riding as a passenger to other drivers, I do not distract them with things I am doing. If there is something I’d like to show them, I wait until the time is appropriate. Their safety is my safety, and our safety together is of utmost importance.

We are living in a world where you will drive, this is simply the way things are. Unless you are residential to a city landscape, you will own a vehicle and operate it. Whether you do so responsibly or irresponsibly is your own choice, but you will not be the only victim of your bad decisions. Be aware of others, even if you are only concerned for yourself. Do not let a moment of pride get in the way of a lifetime of experience.