The Mistakes I Never Want to Make

My freshman year of college, I was riding in the passenger seat of my sister’s new car. We were stuck in heavy traffic, as she was bringing me to class. Everyone on the highway was fully stopped, except for the driver that was directly behind us. He drove directly into the rear end of our car. When we pulled over to talk to the man about what happened, he admitted that he was not paying attention to the road, causing him to hit us. His careless mistake led me to weekly visits with a chiropractor to treat accident-related injuries. After that experience, I was very afraid to drive on my own. I thought to myself, even if I do everything right while driving, there is still a chance that someone will be careless on the road, and I would have to suffer the consequences.

I knew I did not want to depend on others to drive me wherever I wanted to go, so I had to gain the confidence to drive. Starting in high school, I took my Drivers Ed courses online to fully understand the laws associated with driving in Florida. I think the education provided in these courses are vital to becoming a driver, even for adults. Many people can learn how to operate a vehicle, but in order to be a safe driver, you have to understand the rules of the road. Many accidents are caused by drivers recklessly ignoring the laws. Sometimes, this may not be intentional. This is why it is important for drivers to take these courses, to remind them of what the laws are. Refresher courses should be offered so drivers are always aware and up to date on the laws, to prevent accidents.

After getting in an accident due to reckless driving, I wanted to make sure that I knew what I was doing on the road before I got my driver’s license. I signed up for driving school so a professional instructor can teach me how to drive. At first, I felt very silly not knowing how to drive on my own at 19 almost 20 years old, but my instructor reassured me that it was very wise of me to take these extra precautions to ensure that I was a safe driver. The instructor taught me how to be confident when driving and how to be a defensive driver. Many of the techniques that I learned during that course, I never knew before, but I find myself using them every day.

Whenever I ride as a passenger in the car with others, I tend pay attention to other drivers on the road. I often see people who do not pay attention to the road, have their eyes glued on their phones, or speeding down the highway. If people just gave the road their undivided attention when driving, many accident-related deaths could be prevented. Too often do I see drivers run through a stop sign without even looking in both directions. I have seen some areas in my neighborhood began to put cameras at stop signs and red lights. I think interventions like this can help decrease reckless driving. I think another intervention that can help in preventing accident-related deaths is requiring every driver to take a refresher course on the laws of the road, as well as a course on driving under the influence, whenever they have to renew their license. It has always baffled me that it is that simple to renew your license in the state of Florida. Drivers do not need to prove that they are still competent of all of the driving laws to renew their license. Most drivers have not taken a course about the rules of the road since high school. If we asked many adults to solve a simple, high school level math problem, many of them may have forgotten how to solve it. Yet, we expect them to remember every rule on the road that they were introduced to during that time.

In conclusion, reckless driving has cost many people their lives and quality of life. Some people have suffered severe injuries due to someone selfishly disregarding the lives of everyone else on the road. I personally can’t think of a single reason why someone can not wait until they get home to reply to that text message or take that drink. As a young adult, too often do I hear people around my age losing their lives due to reckless driving, whether they were the driver or the victim. Accident-related deaths are preventable, drivers just have to care enough to not make life threatening mistakes.