Every Time I Get Behind The Wheel

Every time I get behind the wheel I can’t help but think about all of the terrible things that could happen to me. I think about the volume of my music when I grab the dial to turn up the sound. I think about being distracted by my phone when it vibrates in the cup holder. I think about taking the turns of the road too wide or too fast when I’m headed down the highway. Every time I get behind the wheel I can’t help but imagine everything that could go wrong.

To me, knowing the importance of safe driving is something that I think about everyday and it is also something that I advocate for others to know as well. I believe making sure all drivers go through driver’s education is extremely important because it can help to lower the amount of deaths we see on the road each year. The reason why I believe this is because when talking to others about driving I like to make comments about how I am a safe driver, claiming that I have never crashed my car. However, even though I believe that I may be a safe driver, all it takes is a distracted driver heading straight towards me to change the course of my life forever. Knowing that the fate of my life is not always in my control, especially when I’m on the road is honestly terrifying to me. Being someone who advocates for the importance of taking driver’s education seriously is important to me because I believe that it can seriously impact my life and others for the better by saving so many lives.

While I previously mentioned that I believe unsafe driving can damage the lives of others, there are also some ways that unsafe driving can hurt our own lives. Although I claimed before that I feel I am a safe driver, living in Wisconsin definitely poses some of its own threats occasionally. Whenever I am driving on the snowy roads of Wisconsin in the winter, I can say without a doubt that I recall many experiences from my drivers education classes. I can say today with confidence that if I had not taken my drivers education course seriously then I would be at serious risk of danger during Wisconsin winters. Knowing that when I begin to slip on the ice and can’t stop at the stop sign, I need to pump my brakes has saved me many times from sliding into the middle of intersections. Knowing that when I begin to slip to the left after making a right turn in the snow, I can react in a calm manner without jerking my wheel or slamming on the brakes, are some of the things that manage to keep me safe in the winter.

As you know I have never been in a car crash myself, although I have sadly had to experience the effect it can have first hand. During my freshman year of high school one of my soccer teammates got into a car crash one wintry night. When my family and teammates had heard about it we were all in shock, we had never believed that something like this could happen to someone who we all knew so closely. We had learned later that night that she was in critical condition and we all prayed for her well being for the many following days. After weeks had passed, we received the news that she was going to be okay and we were beyond happy. However, what we didn’t know was that she would never be the same person she once was. She had suffered from a traumatic brain injury which caused her to forget many things and lean towards a new type of personality. We watched daily as our teammate had to fight so hard everyday to relearn how to do everything again. On the morning of her crash she was the person who we all knew and loved, but after she was a completely new person. While we all still loved her for the person that she had become, it was devastating to have to learn everything about a totally different person. We may have gained a new friend, but we certainly lost one that we will never be able to forget. To me, this experience only deepens my understanding of the importance of safe driving and makes me hope that others will become safe drivers too.

In an alternate universe I would love to wake up in the morning and get behind the wheel without thinking about the safety of my own life, however I know that is not possible. Terrible things can happen to any driver at any given moment. The important thing we learn from this is that we must prepare ourselves for these situations and do things like advocate for others to drive safely. Things like making sure the volume in my car is at a safe level, making sure I don’t become distracted by my phone while driving, and even slowing down at large turns in order to make them safely are only a very few of the ways myself and others can practice safe driving. Together we can make our roads a little safer by knowing how to be safe drivers and also advocating for the importance of young drivers taking drivers education. Together, we can save so many lives.