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A Mistake or A Milestone

Name: Noah Cantero
From: Tuskegee , Alabama
Votes: 0

Noah
Cantero

7/20/19

DMV
Scholarship Essay

A
Mistake Or A Milestone: Your Choice

June
27th, 2018, that was the date of my first car accident, well what I
thought was a car accident. I had been perfectly fine once on the
road and the ride back home wasn’t nerve wracking at all, but it
was something about parking that made me nervous. Now at this time I
had still been foreign to the whole concept of driving, not yet
having my license or permit I thought that maybe if I began driving
close distances around the house I’d be able to prove I was ready
to start learning. The first couple of times on the road were a
breeze, I knew to turn on my blinker at this stop sign, actually come
to a complete stop and then go, I was even familiar with my hand
signals, shift gears, mirrors, and pretty much the essential basics
of driving my parents had told me about.

In
parking lots I was always great with parking, but there was something
about our garage that always made me too cautious to try. One
evening, my mom had left the garage door opener in the car; eager to
prove my readiness I opened the garage door and slowly began to pull
forward. In this moment, so many thoughts were going through my head,
“What if I press too hard on the gas and pull forward too much?!”
“What if I start to merge and then hit the other car?” “What if
I- Wait! What was that noise?!” The loud screeching of the side of
the garage going against my moms passenger side door was a noise I
couldn’t forget, everything happened so fast within just those few
seconds. I had been so worried about not wanting to hit the other car
in the garage that I didn’t even think to look at the direction I
was going in. Not only had I scraped the side of the door, but in
trying to reverse the car the wheel hit the side of the garage which
had jolted the car backwards. I remember my mom running to the car
both scared and upset, not even at the fact that the car had gotten
scratched, but because of the simple idea of this not being just the
garage or a scratched up door, but it potentially being me in a head
on collision with a reckless driver.

For
awhile after that incident I didn’t want to drive let alone attempt
to get in another car. I was too afraid that I’d keep making the
same mistakes but potentially ending up with a scenario much worse,
but that’s the thing about driving. One of the biggest challenges
is mentally; the ability to first realize that just because one
mistake is made that doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll always do.
That experience was most definitely extremely nerve wracking, but it
prompted my parents to look into a driving program in order for me to
successfully learn in every aspect of driving. In driving you
constantly have something going on around you; whether it be other
cars, passengers, exits, off ramps, accidents, etc. So in order to
successfully and safely get from point A to point B one must pay
attention at all times. With today’s societal need to always
capture a moment or memory on social media apps such as Snapchat,
Twitter, Instagram, and even Facebook there is an added distraction
to the driver due to lack of attention on the road. This lack of
attention can even be a small percentage of fatalities while driving.
Although these companies are very popular for their quick
accessibility and interaction, they are not being utilized in any way
to keep the driver focused and responsible. With features such as Do
Not Disturb on most smartphones I believe it could also be useful for
apps as a way to track road activity and promote safer driving, and
for passengers who aren’t behind the wheel it could be as simple as
pressing an “I’m Not Driving” button.

Although, it would be
wonderful if that were the end all be all solution for irresponsible
driving and the use of social media, obviously if people cared enough
to temporarily mute distracting notifications then the plan would be
amazing and we wouldn’t have as many accidents caused by a
distraction from a phone, but people would most definitely find their
way around it somehow. It’s already happening now, disabling Do Not
Disturb is as simple as pressing a button and then you are free to
browse, scroll past, retweet, and react to anything you’d like.
I’ve seen it first hand as a passenger and I can admit I’ve also
done it once or twice myself (not while moving on the road, but
definitely at a light). Not that it’s right, in fact it can be very
dangerous due to all the unexpected brakes and merges that occur on
the road nowadays. Always being mindful of your surroundings is one
of the easiest and most effective ways to ensure your safety as well
as the safety of others. Even in my own everyday life as a driver,
there are things I could be more mindful of on the road. For example,
in traffic just trying to be a bit more observant as well as mindful
of others driving such as if they’re going to be merging soon or if
there’s a car speeding down the freeway. Trying to always stay
focused on the road and not trying to pick up my phone in order to
talk on the phone or to look at social media.

Even
with the available alternatives, there are still many things to
improve on with driving safety in general and the importance of
safety on the road. The ability to even drive first starts mentally,
because without the ability to remain calm behind the wheel and
focus, driving could become a very difficult and almost scary task
for some. By bringing more awareness to not just road safety but to
the opportunity of properly driving, hopefully accidents wouldn’t
be such a common outcome, but instead there are safe roads to be able
to learn so that people can reach that milestone instead of having to
deal with life threatening mistakes.