Defensive Driving

Antonea Harris

1 August, 2021

Defensive Driving

When I was younger, my father told me about the time he was hit by a car. He was about my age playing with a ball in his driveway. The ball had rolled down the pavement to the road, and without looking he ran to get it. It’s something many of us have done as children, and it only took a moment. He was not of the lucky few. Without going into strong detail, he carries the physical and mental effects of this to the present day. Though we don’t often think about it, driver’s education is immensely important to road safety for pedestrians and drivers alike.

Car accidents are one of the most common causes of death in the U.S. However, a large majority of the population still refuses to take them seriously even when faced with the danger they pose. As a child hearing my father’s story, it was almost too easy to forget about it in moments that suited me. My overconfidence in myself led me to run across busy streets without more than a passing thought at the risk I created for myself and those around me. Many people still hold this overconfidence. Though people around us may experience car accidents, we place ourselves above this possibility.

I had never held genuine fear for my life while in a car until I became older. The first time happened soon after my friend had gotten her driver’s license. She was over eighteen and as such wasn’t required to take driver’s education. I was picked up from my house, and we hadn’t made it a full block before the fear set in. A roundabout sits a few streets from my house (an attempt to slow drivers down). Without so much as a glance at our surroundings she sped left, ignoring the small structure in front of us. We came face to face with a large truck, the driver signalling his anger that we had almost crashed headfirst into him. Images of crashes that I had seen during driver’s ed would flood my brain for the rest of the trip as she drove. She was a new driver, yes, but she was also an aggressive one. I’ve been told it was luck that prevented an accident from occurring that day, but I know that it was the truck driver’s defensive driving style. Had he sped around the corner like many others, our two vehicles would have crashed.

The most recent event that solidified the importance of driver’s education into my mind happened only a few years ago. While driving on the highway I had fallen asleep. I’m not sure how much time had passed before I heard screams from my older sister and mother. I jolted awake their panic as my father maneuvered the car across the rumble strips. My mind moved slowly as I exited the fog of sleep, but I watched as the car that had merged into our lane sped off. The driver hadn’t even noticed that she nearly ran us off the road. If it hadn’t been for my dad’s quick response, we would have been pushed off of the road and into the highway’s ditch. Afterwards, we continued the drive to my cousin’s open house each trying to shake the nerves from our bodies. What stuck with me was the view of the woman in the other car. A view of someone who hadn’t even looked once before nearly driving us off the road.

One of the largest points pounded into someone’s head during driver’s ed is the importance of defensive driving. Stay alert, watch your surroundings, and keep enough space between you and other cars. Though it is a part of our everyday life, driving is one of the most dangerous activities someone can undertake. It only takes a moment for something to go wrong, and it only takes a moment for something to become irreversible. A fault shared on the road is overconfidence in one’s own ability. It leads to unnecessary risks and a lack of preparation for what could occur. While learning how to drive defensively, driver’s education calls for individuals to plan for what could occur. This is why during a test the instructor will ask questions such as: “What would you do if a tree fell in front of you right now?” or, “What would you do if the brakes stopped working?”. Questions like these are important to have on your mind. We can’t always foresee what will happen, but if we ask ourselves these questions we can be better prepared for the various possibilities.