Don’t Wish, Do.

Everything can be scary when you don’t know what you’re doing, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to understand. Take Calculus for example, when you look at a problem you have no idea what the letters and random symbols represent, but when you try and finally understand what everything means it becomes a bit easier and you may even be able to solve the problem. The same thing applies to driving. You can’t drive without knowing what you are doing because when you make a mistake it’s not points that will be marked off your grade, but someone’s life, or even your own. You have to know the order of operations and be willing to take things slow and make the right decisions. Being educated about safe driving, consequences for your actions, the rules of the road, and even what to do when things go wrong, is knowledge that every driver should know, experienced or not.

When looking at ways to reduce accident rates, we need to look at the leading causes. According to reports, the leading cause for serious crashes resulting in death are caused by distracted driving and speeding. So how do we tackle these issues? To answer this question, I take a look into my own life. When I drive, what distracts me? My phone, music, and even the people in the car with me make me swerve a little, and have even been the reason for me coming close to hitting another car. Distracted driving is a real problem but I never really thought much about it until I watched a video about it.

My mom made sure I understood the danger of distracted driving and showed me many videos on it, but one specifically stuck out. It showed a bunch of random people who came into this interview and they were all asked the question, “Do you text and drive?”. Everyone had different reasons but they all came to the consensus, that “yes”, they do text and drive. I think there are so many excuses, like being in traffic, driving slowly, or the infamous argument that people claim they are good drivers and they can multitask. “It’s easy”, they say. As they are willingly telling this camera they text and drive, a woman comes in and tells them a story about her family that was killed by someone who was texting and driving. The utter realization on their faces when they can see the pain people experience when losing a loved one all because of something that could so easily be prevented, was impactful. As I watched the video, I realized that could be me. I could be the one in the car or the cause of someone not making it home. My mind was opened and I was able to feel the emotion radiating from the TV screen as grown men shed tears for this woman who had lost her family because of something that they confidently admitted to doing. You never really feel impacted by something until you actually experience it for yourself, driving is a great example and even through videos from others, you can feel the weight of guilt when participating in actions that take away people’s families and friends. Implementing this into the school curriculum for upcoming and current drivers will plant that seed of guilt when they pick up their phone and hopefully remind them of the weight of their actions. Make people more aware of the consequences that can result from their actions.

Another great resource that I think parents and teens should be made more aware of is defensive driving training. Through a program, drivers experience crashing sensations, swerving and real world scenarios in a controlled environment. While working to prevent crashes through things like the previously mentioned idea of videos in schools, it is not a guarantee that you will never get into a crash while driving. Being educated on what to do in those situations that come so fast you can’t even think, will make all the difference. You will be better at making rational decisions and knowing how to save yourself. Going along with this teaching method, experiential learning, it is the best way to engage drivers and make potential crashes a little less severe even. On the website, they have this outlined in big red letters, the graduates are 64% less likely to have a car crash in their first three years of driving”. They are making a difference and I think it is slowly saving the human race. Let people know about programs like this and make it known to all people that car accidents are the easiest things to prevent but around 38,000 people are still killed by it yearly. Educate the drivers and make sure they know what to do before it happens.

I remember the day clearly, October 16th around 2pm I was sitting in my class when my phone lit up with a message from my mom. Thinking nothing of it, I picked it up and read her long message with a red heart at the end. I thought it was a joke, but I knew my mom would not joke about something like this. My heart started beating fast and I got the swelling feeling in my chest as tears welled up in my eyes. I sat in my hard plastic seat with the faint sound of my forensics teacher’s voice explaining the different types of blood stains. I couldn’t do anything, I wanted to scream or cry uncontrollably, but I was in class and I had 1 more to go. I had lost someone that day. Someone who actually lit up a room, who smiled and laughed so big that you would be washed with the sense of overwhelming joy, he was a family man, a teacher, someone people looked at said, “Wow, he sure is a happy guy”. He had been a part of my life since as long as I remember. My parents had met him and his wife when they moved to Arizona, before I was born. I had seen him for the last time at his nephews going away party cracking jokes and wearing his usual iguana tie that Sunday, 3 days before he passed. How could someone so full of life be taken from the world so brutally? So many “what ifs”, if only the other driver was patient, if only he had taken a different route, if only he had been 1 minute slower getting to that stop sign. He was hit by a semi-truck that ran a stop sign… Irresponsible and impatient driving has real consequences, I make sure to remember that anytime I get behind a wheel.

Put your phone down, value human life over speed, watch your surroundings, be aware when switching lanes, know what they heck you’re doing on the road, turn down your music to hear the honking of cars, be responsible when you drive others, have other people change the music, and remind them to drive responsibly, be careful and BE SAFE! Don’t be the reason someone loses their father, brother or friend because you don’t know or simply don’t care about the rules and safety measures of the road. I have had to deal with that loss, and I can promise you that it is the worst pain I have ever felt. When it happens to you, you are going to wish you had remembered and practiced the rules of the road. Don’t wish, Do.