Live It Up

Longevity of life is the importance of driver education. This longevity of life is significant to not

only oneself but to the surrounding human population, one’s family, friends, and wild animals. There are

many serious situations where danger is presented, such as enrolling into the United States of America

military. Driving can be a safe situation if every driver and pedestrian is knowledgeable of the rules,

regulations, and safety requirements.

From dmvedu.org, there is information to reduce the number of deaths related to driving. The

driving and education school provides lessons with reading materials and exercises to enhance each

person’s driving capability. There are practice tests available to prepare for the honorable driving permit

test. There are driving schools in each state that give hands-on lessons to driving! How exciting is this!

Imagine learning to driving in a safe environment while on the real road. Although this may be

intimidating for some people, the feeling of freedom to drive anywhere is literally at your fingertips. For

me, I like to occasionally think outside the box. I enjoy learning from people. I have asked my family and

friends on important lessons they have learned while driving that was not stated in formal driving

education. Oh, goodness! There are some intense stories out there. If you have watched the “Mayhem”

character from the All State Car Insurance commercials, you will know what I am talking about. I think of

their survival stories and mentally give caution if those situations would ever happen to me. I mentally

prepare just in case if that situation ever happened, I would be hopefully ready to escape a horrible

situation.

With a large sad sigh, I have been in an experience of being in a car accident. I was sitting in the

passenger seat while my friend was driving. We were parked at the entry of the onramp with waiting for

the green light to allow us to pass with our turn. Our green light finally gave us lawful permission, but

this is where the story gets ugly. We did not move yet for our approach. With alertness, I saw in the

passenger mirror in slow motion what looked like a Jurassic Park movie in the scene with the running

Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur. I was in a small and old sedan. A shiny gigantic sport utility vehicle (SUV)

quickly charged right into the car I was in. A loud atomic boom hit my ears before it my body. I now

understand my body was in a painful intense defense mode of being what felt like being ran over. The

driver of the SUV was not paying attention. I was in pain right after impact. The pain grew worse a day

later. Two days later, I could not get off my bed. I never thought this pain would happen from what

might looked like not a big accident. Yet, those large SUV cars have much power that leaves people in a

position with possible job loss. I loss my job due to that car accident. I was in the process of moving for

that job. I did not get to complete moving. Depression took place within my heart, mind, and soul.

Anxiety was stemmed, for I did not have income. I could not physically get up for over a month. I was

tortured by this dangerous situation for a physically painful six months. I did not feel strong enough to

walk for six months. The car of my friend had one small scratch. My driver friend perhaps has a body

that absorbed the impact dramatically different than me. He was only sore on a small scale for a week. It

has been a few years from this situation. As I look back, I have been mentally prepared for possible

situations. Now, I get to look forward to more healing and more possible adventures where roads are

not yet built.

I believe in early education. This means that verbally teaching the youth at a younger age, such

as 10 years old, can be of assistance to their future as a driver and of assistance to their passenger

experience. My sweet mother would make small games to not only keep us alert while in the car, but

this also helped her drive. Before the days of cameras in cars for driving assistance, people would help

each other. My little brother and I would help state if there is a car approaching in a possible dangerous

timing situation if she was preparing to make a turn. This is not the concept of “backseat driver,”

because this is safety assistance. My family and I give each other support. On the human level, we can all

support each other while driving. As a gentle reminder, please drive when in a good emotional state.

Driving when tired, angry, or sad are small distractions. A best practice is to drive with minimal

distractions. Driving needs full focus for being a safe driver. Also, please avoid driving when hangry! You

never know where you might drive to! I wish you a safe driving experience during all your travels. Please

live it up.