Integra lies here

“Luke, I messed up so bad.” These words were spoken to me as the result of an accident caused by unsafe driving, very unsafe driving, I should add. This incident happened on June 1^st of 2022, and I’ll never forget it due to how it changed the trajectory of my views regarding driver’s safety.

One of my closest friends is named Chase, and when we were in high school, he bought this old Acura Integra off of his older brother. It was a faded white color and in addition to being a manual which Chase didn’t know; it was so beat up it took months before it was even functional enough to start. It only had two seats because the back seats were missing and for a while Chase lost the keys, so he had to use his iPhone charger to start the car. The important thing about this car though was that it was fast. All other cons were gone the second that piece of junk got up to triple digit miles per hour. Thankfully though Chase has a good head on his shoulder and wouldn’t push the Integra’s limits very often. Maybe once or twice to see what it could do, which is still unsafe, but it wasn’t the casual 90mph in a 45mph that most of our other friends at the time would do daily, but a good mind is still subject to high emotions.

May 31^st Chase had a really bad day, and the height of that bad day being around 11 at night. He was driving in a very heightened emotional state and was going around 110mph on the quiet back country roads that we had throughout our small town in western Colorado. At 11:30pm that night I got a facetime from Chase. I hesitated to accept because I was already cozy in bed and since my phone was broken, I would have to get out and put on headphones if I wanted them to be able to hear me on the call. I accept anyways and hear Chase in tears telling me “Luke I messed up.” Chase had flown off the road and flipped the car into an open field, the entirety of the car was totaled and the fact he was alive was a miracle. He asked for me to come help him as he had no other idea what to do, he didn’t want to get in trouble with the cops or his parents, so I was the next best thing. I got in my car to go help and amidst the confusion, worry and broken phone that I was trying to connect to, as I was pulling out of my driveway, I forgot that I was driving myself and ended up crashing the front bumper of my own car into my brothers. The same reason for high emotions that caused my friend to nearly lose his life was the same reason I messed up my own car.

Fortunately, Chase ended up fine, with nothing but a few scrapes (most of which coming from crossing the barbed wire that covered the field), but many people do not get that lucky. Along with Chase, I have many other friends who have crashed their own cars, and some of which are no longer with us. The fact of the matter is that all the incidents that I have seen and have ruined so many lives could have been avoided if proper steps were taken. The sinking reality that each time you are gripping a steering wheel, your life is literally in your hands, is what made me prioritize learning effective steps in becoming a safer driver, and many of which are steps that take no effort at all. One step I have implemented is any time I have a strong emotion I will not start the car until I have cooled off. Even if I show up a few minutes late I will not start the car until my emotions are regulated. Another step that gets me is music. It is common knowledge to not be on phones while driving, but I look at my phone multiple times to change the song. Now before driving I make sure the music is set, and songs are queued the way I want to avoid the temptation of phones. The final one I practice is the memory that I can only control how I drive. I must drive defensively because I have no knowledge as to what the car next to me will do, and by implementing these steps I’m able to drive in peace knowing that I am not putting anyone else on the road or myself in harm’s way.

Unfortunately, the importance of driver’s education is simply overlooked. For the number of avoidable deaths due to driving each year the fact that a driver’s education isn’t viewed as the most important class is unacceptable. We let our kids take the course, but most don’t even retain simple road sign knowledge. Schools need to start making drivers’ education courses more accessible and more important. In my school it was taken as an elective and there were no grades or points, meaning there were no repercussions to slacking off or talking the whole time and ignoring the lessons. If education was taken more seriously, we’d have safer and better equipped drivers on our roads. In addition to education. This is just one of the steps that must be taken to reduce road deaths. There needs to be more repercussions for drunk driving as DUI simply isn’t enough to keep drunk drivers off the road. I also think that if caught being on your phone while driving should qualify to be given a ticket, as repercussions should be given for being a distracted and unsafe driver. Driving deaths are inevitable but if we put more focus on teaching good driving, and punishing bad driving, it can be taken seriously enough to start reducing the lives we lose each year.