Name: Mariel Jade Emiliano
From: Berwyn, Illinois
Votes: 0
Mariel
Jade Emiliano
From
all the drivers ed related presentations I observed once,
I’ve seen the demonstration for Illinois’s Scott’s Law twice
along with the woman who leads it. She was the daughter of Scott
Gillen, a Chicago fireman whom the law was named after. In the two
times I’ve seen her, she started off explaining why it is
impossible to multitask while driving and made audience members
participate in lighthearted activities to get her point across. What
they don’t realize is that it gradually sets up the story of her
father being killed by a DUI driver, which, from what I learned after
the second time, does not get easier for her to tell. While I will
never fully understand what her loss feels like, I have family
members and friends who were close to being in accidents like Scott
Gillen, and I know life can put them through worse no matter how much
I protest it.
Stories
such as Scott Gillen’s go without saying. That is, the damages,
deaths, and regret are there if you are not responsible with driving
your car. These are there if your cockiness decides that you can
weave between lanes and cut off other drivers. They are there if you
can’t help fumbling for your phone, food, or drink which prompts
your hand off the wheel. They are there if you aren’t above acting
on your impatience during heavy traffic or indignation against other
rude drivers. They are there for the daydreams and thoughts that make
your eyes unfocus from the road in front of you. The tragedies are
what awaits if you don’t try enough to be cautious about what
you’re doing as well as mindful of the other drivers who share the
same road as you.
There
are no tricks or shortcuts for new and experienced drivers to rely on
to be safer and more responsible other than doing time on the road.
No feature on the phone nor protocol built into the car can posit a
risk-free trip. Driving is a reality of its own apart from what we
can do thoughtlessly in the safety of our homes, offices, or any
other place. It is a reality that isn’t for people who can’t put
the importance of themselves, their emotions, and habits in the
backseat. It’s for those who are quick to think, decide, and act in
the moment and who take precautions before igniting the engine.
If
driving educators aren’t enough to cultivate these model drivers we
want on the road, then we must turn to everyone else. Alcoholic and
drug distributors should change their practices so that their
products won’t end up consumed while on the road. Engineers should
invent sensors to prevent people under the influence from stepping
into vehicles. DMVs should double down on the behavioral problems of
a new driver that would pose a risk to others.
Otherwise,
keep teaching those who are willing to work on their driving skills
and mentalities and ignore the rest.
