Collateral Damage

In the moment my eyes blinked, the impact of the collision rocked through every inch of my body as the force attempted to throw me forward and the seatbelt threw me back against the seat. I recall the rush of adrenaline coursing through me vividly, the sound of my heart beat in my ears, as I faintly called out to my mom and brother. Their voices blurred along with the rest of my memories of that day, but for the next couple months my mom would visit a chiropractor and the car itself remained a testament to what had occurred. Steel that was reduced to the consistency of a fabric bearing wrinkles and creases at odd angles by the depth of the impact. This car accident was my first, but not my last, and in every occurrence I was a passenger who had developed a habit of digging her feet into the floor beneath for the brakes that were out of reach. Drivers education became something I looked forward to assimilating myself in, in order to install a sense of confidence for when my time as a driver would come and it served as a means to answer all those dreaded what if scenarios that would play in my head.

The significance of driver education as an institution and in reducing the number of fatalities as a result of driving is immeasurable. Driver education is crucial for every member of society in preparing them to be a responsible driver along with assimilating them into the new world that driving introduces. A new world where distance no longer poses a problem, where one may discover whether the grass is truly greener on the other side, and opportunities appear endless. Every child grows up dreaming about their turn behind the driver’s seat and too often in ignorance or blind excitement convince themselves that their experience in driving within a video game for example will transfer to real life. Especially with the rapid advancements in technology in consideration, such as the emergence of virtual reality into the consumer market. It may be said that drivers education appears too tedious, but a single course of drivers education represents all the difference in the matter of life and death, and has statistically been proven to increase one’s chances of survival. As humans since childhood we have been raised upon the notion that making mistakes is how one learns and that the most important aspect is simply learning from them. However, not all matters of life present an individual with the luxury of time in learning from the mistake, especially in driving, where that mistake may come at the cost of more than one life.

Driver’s education breaks down the composition of laws that every driver must know in a manner that is easier to understand and digest, until essential practices become second nature. It installs a sense of confidence in individuals as they come to understand what decisions to make when in a variety of scenarios that they will inevitably face when driving. From learning when and where to use headlights to understanding the differences in parking uphill versus downhill. The drastic need and significance of driver’s education may also be illustrated through the unsettling fact that the United States of America has lost more citizens in one year to fatalities from driving than they have lost soldiers to combat from war. Thus further steps must be taken to address the severity of this issue and the first step I’d recommend in taking is embedding driver’s education into school systems as a course required for graduation. However I’d like to emphasize that this course will have no standing with the Department of Motor Vehicles, but rather would serve as a mandatory introduction to driver’s education in schools that will establish a more effective transition for students to go about gaining their license. Furthermore, another step that may and should be taken to reduce the number of fatalities related to driving is increasing the fine and penalty for means of distracted driving, particularly when incorporating the use of a cellular device. In this day and age, members of society, myself included, are attached to their phones and overly reliant upon the consistent access it provides to the rest of the world. Whether at a red light or stuck in traffic, when that bing notification goes off, many can not help reaching for their phone in a manner that may be said to be almost second nature. Reasoning with themselves that it will only take a moment and that they are fully capable of multitasking as they feel assured in their own ability as a driver. However one must always be attentive as a moment is all it takes to strip everything away and no matter how talented a driver, one can never be assured of the capabilities of the drivers around them.

Other steps that may be taken to be a better and safer driver that I have come to practice are turning the ringer off of my phone and placing it out of my reach to reduce the temptation of reaching for it in the first place. Another significant step for every individual is acknowledging what faults they personally struggle with the most when it comes to distracted driving. For example, I possess a tendency in switching radio stations too often, which despite my own best reasoning I understand serves as a distraction. Thus I have made it a principle to create playlists in my free time for such car rides so I possess no inclination to skip songs and pay more attention to the radio versus the road. Most significantly, every individual must hold themselves accountable to a higher stand in understanding the depth of responsibility that comes when being in the driver’s seat.