Hyper Aware

Every up and coming driver is required to take a five hour course on defensive driving. Defensive driving includes skills such as scanning an intersection before driving through, just to make sure that no one will come barrelling through when they’re not supposed to.

I was treated to not only a five hour course, but also constant reminders by my parents to be ten times more careful than I think I should be, to constantly check my mirrors, to wait as long as I need to before turning or merging in order to feel safe, and in general, to always be aware of what is going on on the road around me.

This, I think, is the key to driving safely. A successful lane change only happens because you are aware of the cars around you, and whether or not they leave enough space and time for you to switch lanes. A successful right turn at a red light is only possible when you are attentively watching the road in front of you and the cars coming from either side, waiting for the right moment to make your move.

So many common maneuvers are extremely risky unless you are hyper aware of the environment around you and are able to gage the moment when that maneuver is safe to complete. This is not a state that one can achieve if they are distracted, whether that be with their phone, their makeup, their food, their passengers, or with a wandering mind.

The key to becoming a safe driver is being aware of everything around you. The key to doing that is not getting distracted. This is best showcased in the harmless situation of waiting at a red light. Let’s say the light is long, and you begin picking at your nails, checking your hair in the mirror, glancing at your texts, thinking about what you’re going to eat for dinner. The next thing you know, the car behind you is honking because the light turned green and you didn’t notice.

The worst thing to come out of this situation is a few lost seconds, a slight inconvenience. However, imagine something like this happening as you change lanes, as you turn onto a busy road, as you merge onto the highway. If you or anyone around you gets distracted in that moment, there is immediately a lower chance that everyone is aware of the cars around them and the steps they have to take to safely execute a maneuver.

Without awareness, without care, without attentiveness to the road around them, many drivers make the wrong move, the wrong decision at the wrong time and end up in a situation that could’ve been avoided if they had erased distraction from their surroundings.