Safe Travels

Emergency lights reflect off of the pavement in front of me. I stare into the rearview mirror and watch the man whose old Chevy sedan has just collided with my silver Mazda remove his skateboard from his backseat and ride away from the site of the accident. The passenger side of my car has been crushed but I am grateful that I am injured. Soon my parents, the police, and EMS arrive. My father takes pictures of both of the cars. His small vehicle smells of marijuana.

Before the car accident, I had been on multiple trips to shadow and observe my mother at the hospital where she works as an Occupational Therapist. During this time, I met a few patients in the facility who were injured in motor vehicle collisions, who had been driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they wrecked their car. Based on these experiences, I believe that remaining sober and attentive while driving is the biggest step that a person can take to prevent a car accident.

Additionally, one of the reasons that I crashed my car was because I hesitated a little too long when making the left hand turn at a very busy intersection that I had never driven through before. I had a green light, but no green arrow, so I slowed down before I proceeded and that was when the accident occurred. This confusion could have been avoided if I had more experience driving. Although I completed the hours to get my state driver’s licence, the required amount of hours is not always adequate preparation to teach you what to do in these situations. In my opinion, the amount of hours a student should drive before getting their licence should be raised and there should be specific types of places that a driver must go. For instance, a new driver should have to go through a four way intersection multiple times before they take their driver’s test. This would expose new driver’s to a variety of unfamiliar situations so that they can learn how to handle things outside of their normal driving routes. Driving circumstances can be unpredictable. You never know when a light could go out or a person could cut you off in traffic, so it is important that specific circumstances be practiced instead of a certain amount of hours practiced. A student could have 1,000 hours of practice, but if it’s always on the same route with the same circumstances, they aren’t gaining the necessary experience.

Another common reason that people get hit is because they are distracted while driving. People may have the radio playing or be texting instead of focusing on the road. Both factors take away the driver’s attention. If more people took the time to consider if playing their music or reading that text was worth the risk of crashing their car, most people would draw the conclusion that it simply isn’t worth it. Therefore, I think that it is important that people be aware of the statistics that tell us how many people have died from texting and driving, so that they can make informed decisions on the road.

One thing that contributes to the prevention of car accidents is drivers education. Driver’s education plays a role in preventing car accidents by teaching new drivers how to be defensive on the road and informing them of how many people die in car accidents every single day. They tell stories of teens who died because they made bad choices while behind the wheel and that makes young drivers more aware of how their decisions can impact themselves and others.

Since the car wreck, I have taken steps to become a better driver such as going to unfamiliar places with my parents a few times before driving there alone and making sure to ask questions while I am with them. This has helped me to be able to fix any uncertainties I have before they turn into another car crash. Driver’s education plays a role in preventing car accidents by telling new drivers about how to be defensive on the road and informing them of how dangerous car wrecks are.

In conclusion, drivers can protect themselves from car accidents by being responsibly sober while driving, undistracted from the task, and educated on specific occurrences that may arise while behind the wheel. This will help drivers get to their destinations and keep others around them from being harmed as well. We should all do our part to participate in safe travels.