“Driving is a Privilege, Not a Right”

The first time I ever got behind the wheel after receiving my temporary license, I thought this was way easier than I expected it to be. On television, they always show people hitting the gas too hard or struggling to figure out how to put the car in drive. On TV they usually make driving a car some sort of joke with a laugh track in the back. The first time I ever drove on the main road was when the fear of driving really set in. I realized one wrong turn and I could kill someone. I was scared of the cars around me and overwhelmed with the things that could go wrong. That is what they don’t show you on television. They don’t show how much pressure it is to get behind the wheel.

My dad always told me that I shouldn’t get too confident when driving. He’d say “you should always be a little scared.” And he is right. You have to be wary of other drivers because you don’t know what they are going to do. Every year there are thousands of deaths due to car accidents. But there are many precautions we can take to reduce that number. One obvious one is to not text while driving. Distracted driving is the main cause of car crashes so we need to put our phones down and focus on the road. No text or post is worth someone’s life. The other leading cause of car crashes is speeding. There are reasons for speed limits and they need to be followed. Fast driving becomes even more deadly in bad weather. Going too fast around a curve can lead to a fatal accident that could have otherwise been avoided. Some other great steps to take are leaving a space cushion between you and the car in front of you to give you time to stop, checking your mirrors before you drive so you don’t have to adjust them while driving, and calling a parent or friend when you are under the influence.

Drivers education is a great resource to teach new and inexperienced drivers how to be

safe. It is extremely important to pay attention to all that you are taught during those classes, whether they are online or in person. Everyone gets into an accident when they are a new driver, whether that is just hitting a trash can or totaling a car. But if you listen to the safety advice given in the drivers ed courses, you can learn to avoid a serious collision. There is a reason it is mandatory and that is because you must be prepared to get behind the wheel. If new drivers went out there with no knowledge of how the road works, it would be disastrous.

I have no first hand accounts of a serious car accident. I once gently tapped a stopped vehicle while trying to park but luckily it buffed right out. Other than that, the worst thing I have done is back into a trash can. But the day I got my license, my mom told me her story. I have only ever heard it once because it is hard for her to talk about so some of the details are fuzzy but I will never forget the important parts. She told me that when she was a teenager, she was driving a car with her and her friends and they were going extremely fast. Somehow, whether that consisted of hitting something or taking a curve too fast, the car flipped. Majority of them were okay, including my mom, but her one friend was paralyzed. I will never forget how much she stressed that the privilege of driving needs to be taken seriously and how much that person’s injury still weighs on her. And everytime I see an accident I remember her story.

There is another important saying my dad has, “you can do everything right and someone else can still end up hitting you.” He would tell me to just keep being safe and worry about how I am doing. I think this is some of the best advice he has ever given me. Accidents are inevitable but all you can do is do everything right to try to avoid them. There are many ways to help you and others to avoid accidents. You can navigate for the driver so they are not distracted with directions, pay attention to signs to make sure they don’t miss something, and make sure everyone in the car is wearing their seat belt.

In conclusion, just pay attention. Keep doing everything right so you don’t cause an accident. You don’t want the guilt of killing or injuring someone weighing on you for the rest of your life. Driving is a serious task. And remember what my mom says, “driving is a privilege, not a right.”