What Could Happen?

You wake up, drive to school, drive to after-school sports, drive to a fast-food restaurant, and drive home. Your mom wakes up, drives to work, drives to the grocery store, and drives home. Your dad wakes up, drives to work, drives to the beer store, and drives back home. The same thing happens to hundreds of millions of people around the world every day. Driving is such a second thought to many people as they do it every day, it becomes mundane, just going through the motions, like saying your ABCs. However, every single time you get behind the wheel, you put your life, your passenger’s lives, and the lives of everyone on the road. If you drive recklessly, intoxicated, or in any unsafe manner, you increase the chance of taking away a working widow’s chance to see her kids at home while also making those kids orphans.

Many people are given the chance to get a driver’s license to drive on their own in a 4,000-pound steel trap at high speeds on roads surrounded by similar individuals. Many requirements to obtain this privilege are minimal as a person gets their permit, drives for roughly six months, and then passes a simple driving test by a minimally paid DMV worker. It is not rigorous which gives many people the ability to drive which is amazing, however, it also does not emphasize the importance of safety and responsibility of this privilege. The more emphasis there is on teaching safety in defensive driving, ensuring that new drivers understand the rules of the road, and adjusting driving techniques in different conditions- the safer the roads can be and the fewer deaths from driving will be. Before and during driving, there are many simple but effective actions to take to improve driving safety. The driver should be well rested, under no influence from drugs or alcohol, ensure the car is checked and running well, and BUCKLE UP. While on the road, the driver should be fully focused, not on phones or music or even adjusting the temperature for a long time. Drivers should be patient, aware of their surroundings, and be able to anticipate potential dangers and what to do if they do happen. If drivers fail to do these simple things consistently and/or without care, they can cause serious harm to themselves and others.

My aunt, who is a professor at a university with a PhD from Penn State was driving home during the late afternoon with her husband, a longtime principal of a high school, while a teenage girl was driving a separate car. Unbeknownst to my aunt and uncle, this teenage girl had been drinking at a restaurant before getting in her vehicle. The girl collided with my aunt’s side of the car at such a fast speed that my aunt was instantly unconscious. My uncle had called the proper authorities and checked on the teen girl. My aunt was flown into the hospital with numerous broken bones, including her entire leg, and had many other large injuries. My uncle, a nearly emotionless man, was bawling his eyes out to his younger brother- worried that he would never even be able to say goodbye to his wife of 20 years. She had numerous surgeries within a short couple of times while in a medically induced coma, including restructuring her leg bone with metal rods. After a few long weeks, she was discharged from the hospital in a wheelchair and not expected to walk again. Luckily, with many of her thanks to blessings from above, she was able to walk- but with a limp and small pain for the rest of her life. This whole situation had caused serious emotional turmoil to the many people in her life, from her husband to her students at the university. The PTSD from the accident is still with both of them as well as the lingering physical effects. Now let us think about what would have happened if that teenage girl either not drunk before she drove, or called someone sober to drive her after she had a few drinks: she would have driven past as would my uncle and aunt, and everybody would have gotten home safely.

Driving is not just about getting from point A to point B, it is about doing so safely so that everybody getting from and to their points can do so. If you are running late for a baby shower, the guests would rather you be late because of traffic than have to get a call later in the night saying that you are in the hospital fighting for your life. We need to prioritize the safety of being on the road rather than the ability to just be on the road in the first place. In doing so, we improve the well-being of all individuals who have been and will be in a vehicle.