Driving Safely: A Call To Action

I have always believed that being a highly educated and disciplined driver is paramount. With ninety-two percent of United States citizens owning a car, we must ensure everyone is on the same page. Operating motor vehicles is a great normality today, such as where I live in the urban jungle of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Drive around here for five seconds and you’ll see cars on the road, along with more cars on the road. Additionally, you may run into some dense traffic due to the sheer amount of cars on the road. You get the idea. It appears mostly safe, other than the occasional honk and profane gesture from one driver to the next. Nothing is too perilous… at least not until there is an accident. Sometimes, it can be fatal. The potential for everyday danger is often overlooked when someone steps into their car to travel somewhere. Too many lose their life annually–over 40 thousand in 2022–by cars alone. Speaking of 2022, I’ll come back to that. While one must legally attend driving school and pass a test, it is still quite easy to brush it off and proceed to be careless out on the road. If the population can focus more on driving education and staying alert, we can ensure a much safer driving environment for passengers, pedestrians, and our fellow drivers on the streets. Simple common sense and awareness needs to be further instilled upon every human that touches a steering wheel, as far too many people’s lives have and will continue to be taken by reckless and selfish drivers if something is not done about this.

When it comes to the future attempt of reducing the amount of fatalities due to motor vehicles, there are two effective ways to get this done. The first one sounds more egregious and painstaking, but could be incredibly effective. The idea would be that driving courses really lock down on their message of dangerous driving. Sure, they already instill the message quite effectively, but I think there needs to be more interaction upon the topic. For example, I took a driving course. It was very helpful in teaching me everything I needed to know, and was even entertaining at times. But it still felt like the magnitude of dangerous driving just wasn’t emphasized beyond watching some videos of near-fatal car crash survivors. There needs to be interpersonal interaction, maybe even a strongly recommended sit-in for people to hear someone’s testimony about how they survived such a traumatic experience. It could really move people and encourage them to live safer lives by driving cars with more caution and awareness. This sit-in could be part of the course, and maybe replace part of it so that it is not longer to complete, but rather, more engaging. The second method and step to reduce driving related deaths is simpler. It is for anyone reading this to understand that they should not abuse the driving privilege. I will be real for a second– I have always understood that safe driving was important. But I have probably sort of ignored or passively acknowledged those signs on the highway that tell you to stop texting while driving. I nearly did not even notice them because I have seen them time and time again. I do not know how effective they are, but I as a person have become numb to them. So in my opinion, the way to develop the good habit of paying attention to the road and not other things (including your phone) is to just decide that you are going to dedicate your driving habits to a disciplined state of keeping yourself and others safe. You just need to understand that it is bigger than just you, and maybe it is okay to just arrive five minutes late rather than ‘barely running that red light.’

Back to that year. 2022. This was the year I experienced back to back days of near car crashes as a passenger. It transpired unexpectedly during the eventful holiday season. I had the knowledge of car crashes prior to this stretch of unlikely events, but this really pushed that awareness to another level. The first incident happened on a Friday night. After enjoying an evening at Six Flags with my family, we all piled into the minivan. We reached an intersection and the light showed red. We were not in the very front of the line of cars, but the second back from the front that was waiting to turn onto the interstate. The light flashed green, indicating we were good. Unfortunately, there was a drunk driver that was trying to run their red light and came charging into the intersection from the left. It slammed into the car right in front of us and sent itself and that vehicle into somewhat of a spin. My father had to slam on the brakes, and we were thankfully all okay. Nobody got seriously injured, but these types of wrecks seem to be a form of Russian Roulette when it comes to whether fatalities result. Even when nobody suffers severe permanent life changing consequences, there are always a multitude of precautions that can be taken to prevent such unfortunate mishaps. Legitimately the very next night–a Saturday in late December–another near crash occurred. It was later in the evening not too distant from the midnight hour. Myself, my two brothers, and my father were driving home from a movie. We got to an intersection that was not too far from my house. We were turning left, and once we were going through the intersection, my dad had to slam on the brake due to a car that likely was illegally running through that intersection, just like the night before. This was followed by a car behind us that did the same thing, causing my dad to have to get out of that stopped spot by quickly accelerating. What was intended to be a smooth left turn transpired into a maddash maneuver of avoidance. This was all due to irresponsible driving, and with that being a holiday weekend, it makes sense. Alcohol is a major issue for drivers in America, with over ten thousand people dying a year due to drunk driving related accidents. These incidents do not even include the ones I just stated, as tens of thousands more are injured or at least somewhat impacted by this form of reckless driving.

Overall, I am not a perfect driver, but I know there are things for myself and all others to implement into their driving habits. No you cannot check that friend’s text while driving. No you cannot pop open a bottle of beer while driving. No you cannot talk to passengers by turning your head while driving. All of this is common sense, and I think if everybody just understands the magnitude of the issue, we could make our streets more safe. To close, let me just say this: DO NOT learn to drive safely the hard way. You will not want to be a witness or victim of a deadly car crash and understand in that way just how terrible unsafe driving is. Instead, take the precautions now, and strongly instill the driving discipline that everyone should have in their lives. I will apply everything I have said in this essay for myself in my life, and I believe you should, too.