The Importance of Safe Driving

Drive Responsibility and Save Lives

Have you ever said goodbye to someone you love before they leave to go somewhere? Many people don’t realize just how fast something can happen and change their life forever. A few years ago, one of my worst fears came alive. I was sleeping when my mom busted into my room one morning to tell me that my cousin had been in a head on collision. That is all the information I had been given and was told that I needed to head to the hospital as quick as I could. I had several things rushing through my head and panic set in. I wasn’t sure if he would be paralized, if he would be able to recognize me or speak, if he had life threatening injuries, or if he was even alive. Fortunately, my cousin was lucky. Doctors questioned how he was alive, because the whole front end of his car was smashed in. It turns out that my cousin had been working too much and was driving while sleep-deprived. He dozed off, crossed the centerline, and hit a truck. Driving tired is just as dangerous as driving under the influence or being distracted. Therefore, driver education is very important because it teaches all drivers how to be safe on the road, how to react when in different situations (road conditions, immediate stops, and how to eliminate distractions), as well as how to be a defensive driver. There are several ways to be a safe driver and make roads safer for not only yourself, but others on the road with you. Individuals can eliminate distractions, such as: texting, listening to music loudly, eating, reaching for items in their backseat, or simply not keeping their eyes on the road. Those might seem a little over the top, but they could mean a difference between life and death. Drivers can also slow down while driving! Speeding can be very dangerous, even if it is five miles over the legal limit. Although it may not seem like a major problem to drive five miles over the speed limit, five miles over can make it harder for a person’s car to make an immediate stop if necessary. Another way that drivers can practice safe driving is to leave plenty of space between themselves and the car in front of them. One way to ensure this is to use the “three-second rule.” This means that an individual finds a street sign or something and waits until the car in front of them passes it. Once they pass it, the individual counts until three before their car passes that same sign. This helps to reduce the risk of rear-end collisions. All in all, it is important for everyone to practice safe driving to ensure that we all get to our destinations at the end of the day.