Driver’s Education: The Consequence of Ignorance

Donald R. Valverde

11/07/2020

Driver’s Education: The Consequence of Ignorance

Driving is one of the most life fulfilling events in history. The idea that we can span large distances across the planet is not only exciting, but freeing. However, despite the level of excitement it can bring to someone’s life, it can also bring tragedy. Every single day, there are multiple accidents, which affect people’s financial and physical lives. The act of driving should not be taken as a right, but instead be understood and respected as a privilege.

In 2015 I became a Sheriff’s Deputy with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. Since then, I have worked and assisted Florida Highway Patrol in investigating hundreds of crashes. Often, the crashes were related to distracted driving or drunk driving. In almost every single case, the individuals involved were physically and emotionally upset, escalating the events from a mere crash to personal attacks against each other. The stress and anxiety those crashes imposed on the parties involved distracted them from the root of the problem. Even inheritably good and hard-working people would clash at each other’s throats for the opportunity to insult the other, despite the evidence and facts clearly showing they were both at-fault.

During my time investigating crashes, the most common observation I gained from my investigations, were that the parties involved were all distracted by mobile devices, music, and even food. All the while those parties would ignorantly become complacent in driving their 1,000+ pound vehicle into another vehicle or property while not focusing on the road.

While investigating these crashes, I found more frequently, I would be required to complete DHSMV long forms – which require diagrams and extensive data entry – and the frequency of damage costs were average between $3,000 and $20,000. This was merely because, a vehicle in today’s word had more electronics inside of it, than in prior years. Alone a single bumper was no longer plastic or metal, but an intricate composite of circuits, sensors, and cameras. This alone can cost anywhere between $3,000 to $5,000 per bumper.

This concept does not even touch the fatalities of a crash and the lives it impacts. During my time at the Sheriff’s Office. I observed one too many crashes, which took the lives of family members, friends, and individuals seeking their path in life. The cost of those crashes was unmeasurable. The result was always the same as family members and friends were left with a hole in their heart and a mound of financial obligation, with nothing to remember the driver by other than old photographs or a memorial left at the crash-site.

In 2020, I began working on in specialty unit, which had the pure focus of violent crimes and property crimes. However, sadly my team’s focus was shifted to street racing after we observed several races and excessive speeds on Bruce B Downs Blvd, in Wesley Chapel, Florida. My team developed an Enforcement Action Plan around street racing due to the frequency. To date, the range of speed violations on Bruce B Downs Blvd were between 60 MPH to 117 MPH, on a road limited to 45/55 MPH. As a result, there have been several crashes, one of which being fatal [PascoCrash].

While driving is a privilege, it is not a right. Educating yourself as to the impacts of distracted, complacent or ignorant driving, is essential. Each of us are implicitly ignorant to the world around us as a direct result of a lack of experience. However, the truth is experience is not a reasonable primary stimulating factor of learned focus for driving, as the impact of crashes play on one’s self or society are too great to leave purely to chance. As such, education plays a crucial role in preparing one’s self for driving, as it plays on the learned experiences of others.

It is important to leave your distractions at the metaphorical door. While driving, you should turn off all communication device notifications, practice the provided educational literature as if your life and the life of others depends on your actions alone. Furthermore, you should make it a goal to keep your devices at bay until you arrive at your destination. Those text message or social media notification about some unwanted drama or last night’s events may seem important, but the truth is they are not.

More importantly, slow down. The extra few minutes it takes to get somewhere is not worth the life it may cost. There is not a single being on this planet that would not rather you be alive now and be late, than never had made it at all. Ultimately the responsibility of driving and the ways you affect others on the road are purely in your hands and your hands alone. If every driver took responsibility for their actions in theory, no crash would ever happen beyond extenuating circumstances (Ex: Deer in the road, falling objects, or other uncontrolled factors).

While we frequently refer to crashes as accidents, they seldom are and are usually a direct result of irresponsibility while driving. You are not alone in this world and your actions play a part in other’s lives. However, despite this it is important to remember education from the experiences of others will help you save lives.

References