Driving The Safe Way

Driving the Safe Way

Amelia Thatcher

Being an educated driver is crucial to driving responsibly, you must know the rules to obey them. Teaching and reteaching the rules to drivers new and old may be a key way to keep the roads safer, so it’s fresh and always in the mind while driving. We don’t want more people to suffer through car crashes, my family had a friend who was drowsy driving on a highway, and while going up onto a bridge, they nodded off for a moment and swerved off the bridge into traffic that was driving below. That crash could have taken lives, yet by some miracle it didn’t. Crashes happen across the US every single day, and that simply isn’t okay. That’s why it has to be the work of all, not a few.

Steps that you personally can take to be a safer driver is to first make sure you are checking your mirrors. They are very helpful in making sure you have the ability to check around you without taking too much attention away from what’s happening in front of you. Next, make sure you are always aware of your surroundings, whether that means around your car or the other drivers around you, always be aware of them and what they are doing. This will ensure that if a driver is acting weird, you will notice and be able to take appropriate actions before something happens. Last but not least, trust your gut. More often than not, its telling you something is off, and it’s better to listen to that and be extra caution than not and regret it. Think you saw something in the mirror? Trust that feeling and do a head check. That one driver is swerving or driving funny? Keep your distance from them and remember to be ready for anything. Something that may be helpful for you, and something I hold as a rule of thumb is: ‘drive right, think twice.’