Experiences in Driving Practices

The first serious car accident I was in happened during the winter. It was snowy with huge banks on the side of the road from the plow. My mom didn’t see a little car pull out of a driveway in front of her suddenly, because it had been hidden behind one of the large snow banks. My mom stopped quickly to avoid crashing into the little car, but the driver of the SUV behind her was distracted. She didn’t stop and crashed into us hard enough to make their airbags go off, and push us into the car in front of us.

Keeping alert for potential hazards is important so that you are not caught off guard while driving. Maintaining complete focus on the road (even when it seems calm and boring, such as cruising down a deserted back road) is imperative to being a good driver. Drivers who have been formally trained are at an advantage, knowing skills to handle all kinds of road conditions and common scenarios as well as laws and safety practices. Driving requires a high degree of communication with the other drivers on the road as well as the ability to predict what their actions might be. Additionally, habits such as driving drunk, texting and driving, snacking while driving, or even looking away for a moment to fiddle with your music player can be distracting and deadly to your self and others.

The second scary accident we got into was at an intersection. We were coming up the hill into a four-way intersection on some backcountry roads. Suddenly a car came speeding through a stop sign (and a flashing red light!) to our right, and although my mom braked quickly, we still bumped into her backseat door area. I couldn’t help thinking that if my mom’s reaction time had been only a fraction of a second slower, we would have been T-boned and I could have possible been killed or at least seriously injured.

More often than not, car crashes are preventable. Seemingly simple and common sense practices such as focusing, planning your route ahead and anticipating hazards, going the speed limit, obeying signs and rules of the road, calming (or at least not acting on) feelings of road rage, wearing your seatbelt, driving only when sober, using your headlights, keeping an appropriate distance from the car in front of you, and griping the steering wheel correctly can get you and everyone else on the road to your destinations in one piece. Although these two accidents were not serious (beyond a little whiplash for everyone involved), they have certainly scared me. Because of these experiences I have learned firsthand the importance of following all the recommended safe driving practices that I mention above, as well as what the consequences of not following them could look like.