Poised to Strike: The Terrible Reality of the Road

Dakota
Carlon
May 17th, 2020

Poised to Strike

Across the nation, millions of
American’s are traveling to and fro among-st themselves, and
thousands more will soon be starting to experience the double-edged
sword of driving. As individuals earn their licenses and experienced
drivers give away a part of their road, so too will the painful
reality of car accidents be thrust-ed upon them. This ever-growing
bane, however, can be extinguished if both veteran and inexperienced
drivers re-hone the lessons taught to them by drivers ed
classes. Highlighting the importance and utter power that the driver
holds when behind the wheel while rallying a change in the drivers’
psyche, will drastically reduce the number of fatal car accidents
that happen almost daily. The two concepts which are tied into car
accidents inversely; which every driver must strive to maintain is
self-control and awareness. As all drivers should be able to recall
these concepts are both the foundation and the goal of “defensive
driving.” A brief distraction, which can last less than a second,
can snuff a life or drastically alter their life and the lives which
that person was surrounded by. Once someone falls into a lull of
inactivity brought upon by repetition, it becomes much more likely
for an accident to occur. One of the most dangerous traps which,
ironically, is the least noticeable and most common way that drivers
lose their sense of awareness of their surroundings and start
developing dangerous risky driving behaviors, is through the lack of
accidents and undisciplined experience. “Undisciplined”
experience being the formation of risky habits and behaviors brought
upon by experience within that subject or activity. After driving for
a while with a lack of car accidents can start to soften the habits
which a defensive driver would take. This subtle sense of
overconfidence will affect a driver’s judgment and defensive driving
ability, unconsciously believing their experience can be used to the
same effect as the techniques they learned through drivers ed. This
slippery slope will hamper your reflexes when an emergency arises
which requires your unwavering attention. A personal example of this
occurred over 9 years ago when I was 10 and had my first taste of
what could’ve occurred. My family, while driving at night on a
rural highway on our way back home, was nearly involved in a car
accident if it wasn’t for my fathers’ swift actions behind the
wheel. In the void of night, pitch black; for a brief second in our
headlights, we saw a massive cow on the road while we were traveling
at 75mph. My father without hesitation drifted the car left narrowly
avoiding the 1500 lb animal. If my father wasn’t completely fixated
on the road at that moment in time, the lives of family and I could
have been traumatically altered. On the road, you must be prepared to
confront the reality that an accident can occur at any time, and the
moment that you believe you’re safe, is the moment disaster is poised
to strike.