Simply Difficult

Initially seeing this scholarship application, I didn’t believe it was for me. The worst driving experience I had ever had was a fender bender when I was sixteen, nothing too serious. However, on March 22nd, 2024 I got into a car accident with two friends of mine and decided that I do have something productive to say on the topic. We had just gone to get coffee near campus and while going straight at an intersection, someone opposite of us turning left decided to turn (instead of yielding like they were supposed to) and hit our car head on. I was sitting in the backseat on the driver’s side and was flung forward, the seatbelt being the only thing holding me to my seat. So, now I have the ability to state that I’ve been involved in a T-Bone crash, not something I was really looking to add to my repertoire, but it does give me more perspective in regards to safe driving as a whole. My friend’s car was totaled and all three of us had to go to the hospital and get checked over for any physical injuries. And while the whiplash in my neck is slowly going away, I am still struggling to move forward mentally. Driving makes me incredibly anxious, I have nightmares, and I’ve been struggling with depressive episodes. Something that seems simple, like yielding at a light, when disregarded can have a huge impact on someone for a considerable amount of time. Thankfully, no one in that accident was injured in a major way, we all managed to walk away from it, but not everyone is that lucky. I can easily imagine how my own accident could have become something fatal for any one of us involved. It is critical for our society to understand the impact of safe driving on ourselves and the other people around us.

An unfortunate fact about myself is that I had to take the driver’s permit test three times. Granted, I have heard worse numbers, the fact that I struggled so much is fairly embarrassing for me. The reason I struggled so much with the permit test was simply because I didn’t read the little booklet they give you to study with. I assumed that driving was mostly common sense (I was wrong). I’m sure the majority of us thought having to read that whole booklet was dumb and unnecessary at some point when we were having to learn. It’s harder to see the bigger picture when you have that little background on physically driving a car. Once we finally get behind the wheel, most of us are nervous beyond belief. The thought of being in charge of a ginormous vehicle, surrounded by a lot of other ginormous vehicles, is absolutely terrifying. It took me a long time to get comfortable behind the wheel, I didn’t get my license until I was almost seventeen because I was perpetually nervous about driving. However, as I got older and spent more and more time driving I was able to get more comfortable and feel less worried about driving.

Feeling comfortable behind the wheel is important, being too stiff or too worried can make it difficult to get from one point to another. On the opposite side of that coin, you can’t be too comfortable behind the wheel. Forgetting to turn on your turn signal or look both ways can lead to an accident that hurts you and/or others. If more individuals make sure to simply stay knowledgeable about safe driving habits and not only that, but maintain those habits, we could ultimately have safer drivers on the road. I believe that a substantial problem on today’s roads is that people aren’t worried about maintaining the habits that they are taught when they initially begin to drive, they become too comfortable behind the wheel and forget good habits they are forced to use when learning how to drive. More public reminders of keeping yourself knowledgeable on driving habits and refresher courses after accidents are ways that we could reduce the amount of unsafe driving, accidents and ultimately the amount of deaths while driving. Even doing simple things like rereading the silly drivers ed manual can benefit everyone and give you a refresher on what can feel like common sense.

Simply put, driving is hard for a reason. And we’re given silly manuals for a reason. We have to spend a substantial amount of hours with a qualified driver, for a reason. It’s not just to torture younger versions of ourselves, but to ultimately help us grow and build healthier habits. Thankfully, fifteen year old me went back and read the driver’s manual and I would consider myself a safe driver. Everyone can do their part and pay more attention to their own driving habits and how these habits affect others around them.