Dangerously Necessary

If personal experience is not convincing enough to show and tell drivers that the need for the education and practice of safe driving is necessary, statistics should help make better sense of it all. We’ve all either seen an accident happen, witnessed a near-accident occur, or seen the aftermath. People get lucky all of the time and chalk it up as, “being a good driver.” Statistic prove that luck runs out, very often. It is important to teach people that their driving habits have a direct correlation on the number of deaths related to car accidents. If people are able to witness visible proof that their efforts make an impact on the lives of others, included themselves, they can and will take the preventative measures to keep everyone safe. Drivers ed will allow people to teach friends and family as well, not everyone will listen to an instructor but when the information is coming from someone you love, it tends to become more appealing. These are preventative steps; teaching a few, to teach others. The next major step after education is the applied knowledge. Nothing changes until there is a habit of more drivers being safer on the road, to lead by example. The only car accident that I’ve been in was when I was a passenger, and another driver ran a stop sign to only then stop in the middle of the road. The car’s wheel locked sending me and my friend into a laundromat. To this day, I wonder how I walked away from the unscathed. My friend wasn’t help responsible at all but the other driver was aggressively apologizing because he knew what he had done was reckless. In this scenario, greater forces were at work to allow everyone, including those in the laundromat, to go home safely. That level of luck doesn’t ever happen twice. However, the steps that I personally take include not following too closely, not merging inappropriately, not speeding, and following all laws of the road. I only hope that the measures that I’m taking can continue to keep me safe as well as others that are around me.