Anything Can Happen in a Split Second

Anything Can Happen in a Split Second

A few years ago my mom told my sisters and me that we might be going on a plane. I was terrified and worried it was going to crash, but my mom told me I have more of a chance of dying due to a car crash than a plane crash. This little fact changed my life forever. It is so scary to think one of our frequent drives to work, school, or the grocery store could be our last. This may be a little morbid, but it crosses my mind every time I get in a car.

Driver education is very overlooked, but it’s something you’ll need to know for the rest of your life. It’s very important that every person on the road has a full understanding of the laws and knows what they’re doing because accidents happen in a split second and right before your eyes. Although driver’s training is dreadful and can be boring at times it is crucial that everyone pays attention so they don’t cause or be a part of an accident. To ensure everyone’s safety I think some aspects of drivers training need to change; phones should be taken away to reduce distractions and there should be small tests after each session to make kids pay attention better. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in their article about drunk driving, they state, “Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that’s one person every 50 minutes.” I don’t think many people realize how serious an issue this is. I think all cars should have a mandatory breathalyzer that the driver needs to take to ensure no one is drunk driving and their car won’t start unless they’re clear. This would dramatically decrease the number of crashes and possible deaths as a result of drunk driving.

While not everyone has been in a catastrophic crash I believe everyone has had a little scare while driving or while being in a car. My experience was when I was with my two best friends. We had just left Planet Fitness after our workout at two in the morning and my friend was driving. She was extremely upset because her other friends were hanging out without her knowledge. She was crying a lot and could barely see the road. She kept swerving and making sharp turns. She was swearing so much which was not normal for her. Thankfully the gym was only a mile from her house, but my other friend and I genuinely feared for our lives and were worried we were going to crash. Instead of driving in her condition, we should’ve stayed in the parking lot till she calmed down and was okay enough to drive.

Some simple things I can do to become a better and safer driver are staying off my phone and turning off my ringer so my full attention is on the road, limiting the number of friends I have in my car to avoid distractions and loud noises, always checking my blind spots before changing lanes, and overall having an awareness that my car is a weapon and I could seriously injure people or myself. I cannot control how other people act on the road, but I can encourage them to follow my steps to become a safer and better driver,