Humility Leads Safety

As a teenager, I was an infamous “passenger princess” – a contemporary term to describe the experience of routinely riding passenger in the cars of friends and family. When I learned this term I felt vindicated, in a way, for my experience as I wasn’t permitted to obtain my drivers license until I was eighteen. Eighteen was considered late to be driving in my hometown, where teenagers had designated parking spots that they’d decorate a week before school started; sibling carpools and car escapades known as “going on drives”. Driving culture was huge for my high school class and others, and driving education the paramount to obtaining this elite status.

When I finally began my driver education journey I was more excited than nervous. The excitement soon waned into full nervousness as the daunting amount of information and responsibility I was undertaking as a soon to be driver came to my peripheral. My in-cars went smooth but maneuverability, as required by the state of Ohio, was almost my breaking point. I simply couldn’t fathom the physics of fitting any sized car between the distance of cones when in reverse, and this became the reason for one of my two failed drivers tests.

I share this humble experience to emphasize the necessity of driver education in preparing learners for the real-world intensity of driver consequence. While the very worst that could happen when hitting a cone during my maneuverability training was maybe a scratch on my bumper, my teachers were unwavering of the pressure for perfection – because a cone scratch is really a bumper ding while parallel parking, an embarrassing and sometimes costly expense – depending on the car. While preparing for my license was an additional stress on the volcanic experience that was teenagedom, I’m grateful for how my instructors imbedded the weight of driving and operating a vehicle despite the glorification of driving, especially with the amount of inebriation while driving that I was privy to in my youth.

I believe that a decrease in driver death is a multifaceted issue, one that can be resolved through bureaucratic and individual intention. To start, requiring licensed drivers to renew their license every three years, as opposed to the 4-8 required by the state of Ohio, would benefit the greater community by maintaining succinct road knowledge. The longer individuals go without reviewing the legal precidents required to drive, the more likely they are to build up a negation of common driving laws until the larger scale and highly punishable offenses are completely ignored. As well as this, lackadaisical drivers are more likely to be flagged, giving DMV’s the ability to require certain persons to be suspended from driving until they can prove they understand the responsibility and retention of road rules.

Another step is to enact survey’s of full time corporations to accumulate how their employees transit to and from work. If at least 40% of persons arrive and depart from their facilities by car, a required training should commence onboarding and mid year evaluations, similar to a DEI training. This is another possibility to expose large groups of people to re-integrate their retention of road-based guidelines.

To this day, I find driving an uneasy task, the crux of it being parking. I tend to park away from other cards, I rarely parallel park, and when I do it takes me multiple times. The one and only time, so far, that I’ve been in a car accident was July 2nd 2023. I remember the exact day because it was recent, also because of how guilty and embarrassed I felt for days afterward. I was parking my car, attempting the impossible, and I hit a parked car while turning into my spot.

What embarrassed me about this scenario is how extremely avoidable it was, as well as how low the stakes were. My idea of an accident is something horrendously violent, where both parties end up injured and the circumstance was out of their control. This was completely in my control, as the car I was parking has motion detectors to alert me when I’m too close to a car. And, Murphy’s Law, my car had worse damage than the one I hit – damage that my father had to pay for completely.

I’m thankful for the privilege of having the car fixed and internally un-damaged. It still runs to this day, and my father has let me drive it from time to time. I’ve also gained back my fathers trust by being much more cognizant of my surroundings while parking and driving. I’ve taught myself to parallel park, and am proud to say that I’m a beast at it. My mistake remains, but my fortitude in wanting to improve has not capacitated me from wanting to drive. I was humbled by this crash, and inspired enough to do away with my fear of parking and put in the work to achieve some semblance of mastery as my idleness in improving had cost my father more than he deserved to pay.

Recently, I’ve embraced a mindset change while driving. I’m grateful that I didn’t sustain any injury from my accident and can instead take away a shift in my morality. Whereas before I viewed driving as a much more casual and conceited act – in that I believed myself a better and more sound-minded driver than those I shared the road with – I have finally realized the importance of my fathers advice when I first began driving. He told me to always be on the defensive, and to do my best to anticipate other people and their driving habits rather than to expect that of others. This advice has become a precedent. Most importantly, it’s allowed me to mentally slow down. No longer am I in a rush to get from point A to point B, and neither am I expecting others to make room for me and my interests when on the road. I see this so often in other drivers – in their harried and inconsiderate driving habits such as cutting people off, sharply switching lanes without using their blinkers, or straight up running through red lights. Never have I ever thought that these people were cooler than me for the way they drove. In fact, I’ve asked God to get them to wherever they need to be safely because clearly it is a necessity that they arrive.

To reiterate, the steps I’m truly taking to become a better driver is to relish in the moment by slowing down my perpetual need to arrive at my destination. By doing so, I’ve not only become a safer and more cognizant driver by embracing vigilance in driving and acting as a defensive and considerate driver, but driving has become much more enjoyable. Whereas before I was constantly anxious about putting my hands on the wheel, parking and shifting into gear; I have begun to adore the tranquility of easing off of the gas and coasting. Realizing that driving makes me a part of a community of capable and conscientious individuals has made me want to protect said individuals, the same way I hope they desire to protect me.