Don’t Cross The Finish Line Early

0.1 seconds, maybe 0.4. That is the length of time for the blink of an eye. That is how quickly a life can be taken; it is also how quickly a life can be forever saved. A life is worth living for all the beauty there is to be seen in the world but why does it have to be taken at the expense of knowledgeable faulty driving? The vast range of a simple blinker indicating a move to not being swayed under the influence is what saves every individual behind the wheel.

If drivers’ education is preached as common sense, then why not apply it? Drivers’ education is what reduces the number of fatalities, it is what keeps our lives, and all those around us, from being taken in the blink of an eye. Having this education builds a stronger foundation for our future generational drivers. Turning on your signals to indicate a left or right turn, putting on your hazard lights, making sure your front and rear lights are working. Your light is right. Letting people know which way you’re moving from your line, letting them know you’re in a hazardous situation, keeping up with all your lights so all those around you can see your vehicle are all the “smaller” things that hold the importance to securing your life. Keeping yourself sober when there is a hand on the wheel may seem like a bigger education, but it is just as important to your lights. If your brain is dancing with under the influence formulas then don’t lay a hand on the wheel, don’t put your foot down on the gas. Never allow your poor judgement to be the judgement of everyone else’s life, don’t allow your ingested influences to influence your future. From what can be viewed as small to big issues, there is also the inbetweener like speeding. Don’t race your way to the finish line just yet when you still have a long journey ahead of you, don’t create the finish line for someone else either. Just these three things alone with proper driving education is what will result in the huge decline to death caused by faulty driving.

Steps can even be taken outside of a vehicle to reduce the number of deaths related to driving. Having the proper experience in how your car moves, knowing if your capable to making decisions on a dime, understanding traffic signs and signals, and even knowing if your comfortable enough to drive in certain weather conditions can give a reduction to fatal events. These outside of the vehicle steps give an enormous reduction because believe it or not, not many people truly know these factors. Countless drivers never know how their vehicle maneuvers until it is too late and countless drivers aren’t mentally prepared to make sudden life or death choices in seconds. Traffics signs and signals are even a subject many drivers can’t tell you about unless they’re googled. I even have a stance on driving in select weather conditions because I refuse to be behind a wheel if I’m not a hundred percent sure of myself.

Conjoined to my previous statement, I have different experiences to what is normal of car accidents and irresponsibility. My mother works with car accident claims adjustments which just means that growing up I have seen image after image of the unreversible damages caused by poor driving education alongside with the permanent scars on groups of people both mentally and physically as the add on side effects. My father on the other hand wasn’t the brightest star when it came to driving, he ignored the education on driving and believed he could defy all the odds like superman which left him in accident after accident after accident. The two of them clashing together gave me endless talk after talk on driving education, even now when I have been driving for over two years. On the flip side to my experience with the visuals and auditory stories of accidents, I have been in the backseat handful of times in which I have no idea how no damages were caused. My aunt has a history full of alcohol, drugs, substances, all the above. She and my cousin had lived with us for a few years when I was a kid and every few days if she was awake, she would take us to school, pick us up from school, or take us with her to the gas station. Though in these events she would drive with the pedal pressed down as far as it could go, she would drive like the lines on the road meant nothing and her mind would be God knows where. Looking back at these memories now I truly have no idea how no accident occurred while I was with her like it would to anyone else, but it truly did play a major role in my beliefs in proper driving education and intoxication.

After writing all of this, it is only fair if I talk about my own steps in bettering myself. No day is guaranteed just like me saying I won’t get in an accident today isn’t guaranteed. What is promised is me staying educated on driving. When I drive, I take steps to make sure all my front and back lights properly work, I make sure I always turn my signals on, if I don’t feel secure in the weather outside, I’ll wait for it to pass over or simply not go out just as I don’t speed and create a finish line for myself and those around me.

Every day there is an accident and every day there is something to learn about driving. When you are behind the wheel, a driver’s education is what defines part of your future. Mold your future into something worth living for, don’t let the timer start its countdown because of poor understanding of the education of the wheel. Drivers’ education is the key to reducing our societies’ sudden deaths.