Importance of Driver Safety

I woke up at four in the morning and saw a Life360 alert,

“Life360 detected sudden motion on Dean’s phone. This could be the result of a collision, hard braking, or a dropped phone.”

The message was sent at 12:58 in the morning. I immediately panicked. I kept telling myself it was just a fender bender or, as crazy as it sounds, maybe he somehow threw his phone out of the window. Dean is the thrill seeker out of my friend group. He does anything he can just for the thrill or laughs. I immediately texted my other two best friends in the friend group, Faith and Isela,

“Did yall get this too? On Life360 he’s been in the same spot for about four hours so idk if it’s being dumb or what lol. Unless he accidentally threw his phone out the window lmao”

Thinking he just threw his phone out of the window or got into a fender bender and left his phone, I convinced myself to fall back asleep.

After fully waking up that morning, I saw no response from Dean, and his phone location was now at the county sheriff’s office. My other two best friends and myself decided to text his roommate and the news she shared with us was terrifying. He was life-flighted to the Houston Medical Center. We texted his mom to get better details of what happened to our best friend.

“Broken collarbone. Broken back. Right hand broken. Right ankle and heel broken and needs surgery. Tear in his abdomen that needs surgery. He’s hurting.”

I felt time slow down as I was reading the texts that his mom sent us. A plethora of expletives was all I could text back in the groupchat with two of my best friends. My mind immediately started racing. I thought he could be paralyzed, had severe brain injury, or be in a coma. I thought Dean was on the brink of death and I could not do anything about it. We were able to visit him after his initial emergency surgeries, and all felt reassured that he would have a full, but very long, recovery.

We later found out that a drunk driver was going the wrong way on the highway. His car was stuck in between the drunk driver and another person who rear-ended him.

This life changing accident could have been prevented if the drunk driver had called an uber or someone to pick them up, rather than risking the lives of themselves and everyone else on the road. It is simple to have a designated driver or someone trustworthy to call to be a responsible driver. Trey would not have to relearn how to walk nor would he have to worry about later impacts his injuries will have. Everyone close to him would not have to worry about waking up to the text that he was in the accident. I would not be constantly scared of reckless drivers coming out of nowhere, or being scared to drive at night due to drunk drivers. The accident reminded all of us how instant life can change, and how we have to watch out for ourselves and others on the road.

While taking driver’s ed, the courses teach you about defensive driving and how to spot a drunk driver on the road. Most of us forget about it or file it away in our brains for later use because we think we would not need to use it. However, now that one of my closest friends was in a life changing accident caused by a drunk driver, the information from the courses was immediately brought to the front of my mind and stayed there. I was guilty of not thinking I would use the information given on reckless and drunk drivers. After the accident, I am ten times more cautious on the road. I was reminded how quickly life can change and how others are not as cautious of those around them. I am aware of my driving and the flaws of my driving when distracted or in a hurry. In reality, being late does not matter. What matters is our life and the lives of others on the road with us. Being late is not an excuse to drive recklessly, take a deep breath and arrive at your destination alive. I am now more aware of the driving habits of others and watch out for those who brag about driving recklessly. It is not a flex that you can go 100mph on IH-10 while swerving in and out of rush hour traffic. Anyone who tries to brag about driving with no morals, I immediately speak up and tell them it is not the flex they think it is. I have had my license for almost three years now, and at my age many young adults are gaining independence for the first time in their lives. It causes the belief that they are invincible because of this newly found independence and freedom. If any of my friends are driving and need to change the song or text someone, they give the phone to the one in the passenger seat. We all quickly learned to be more cautious of our driving habits and the changes that needed to be enacted.

Anyone could get into an accident because of the recklessness of others. It is not fair, but being a defensive driver can save you. Even the driver who rear ended my best friend could have prevented running into him. They could have been further away with time to stop. We forget how fast we are going on the freeway, especially in the Houston area, and we think we are invincible. In reality, driving fast in something that weighs 4,000 pounds can kill anyone in an instant.

In order to properly inform those who are just learning how to drive, we need to show them real people who have to live with the consequences of those reckless drivers. Many online driver’s education courses show very fake and scripted examples, causing kids to think it is not as serious as it is. Unfortunately, at 15 years old, I was one who did not take that section seriously because of the cheesiness of it all. If we showed kids in driver’s education what real people experienced and the way their life changed, without the scripting or the cheesy music, it would be beneficial to everyone. Additionally, the driving textbooks do nothing to teach the real consequences from real people. Most people don’t learn the importance of information on drunk driving and defensive driving until they are the ones who are injured due to those reckless drivers, or they end up being the reckless drivers themselves who have to deal with consequences of their choices.

Being a responsible driver can save your life and you will not have to live with the guilt of injuring others because of your recklessness. People think reckless driving is fun because of the thrill that you get from it, but they do not think of the risks and guilt that can accompany the causes of your careless choices. Society makes us too individualized, but we need to realize the risks that our actions can cause.We need to realize that being late or being in a rush is no excuse to be reckless and be in a rush, causing us to be distracted and have no empathy for others. We need to take a deep breath and calm down before getting on the road to give the road our full attention because we never know what will happen. Life can change in an instant, and all we can do is stay vigilant on the road to save many lives.