But I Didn’t Do Anything Wrong

It seems that after the first day of freshman year, the next thing students can’t wait for is the day they start Driver’s Ed. The eagerness to get behind the wheel and finally achieve the freedom they’ve been waiting for sometimes takes over their accountability on the written exams. Learning to drive is a milestone, a ticket to independence. It is so important that teens are driving with the right intentions and precautions. Although, most of the time, the excitement that comes with is distracting. Being a safe driver is something I haven’t deeply thought about, because it is a role that I assumed everyone planned to have. All it takes is running five minutes late, a bad day, or peer pressure for all the safety to go out the window. I have experienced more situations than needed where close friends of mine have been impacted by unsafe driving.

Living in Indiana, the weather can be unpredictable, especially in the winter and early spring months. The roads are severely impacted by this. I am grateful to have a dad who cares about my driving safety. During a big snowstorm, he took me to an open parking lot to practice having control when driving in the snow, which is the safest tactic in this condition. A friend of mine, during a snowstorm, was driving through a roundabout and because of the slippery roads was not able to turn and ended up in a rear end collision with another car. Hearing about the claims and paperwork her family needs to do because of this motivates me to be safer when driving in unsafe conditions. I am fortunate to not have experienced something like this but hearing it from her was truly a wakeup call to be more attentive and safer when driving.

Based on my experiences, it seems as if the most detrimental accidents that happen are the ones that are easily preventable. In my opinion, teens and young drivers are most at risk for being victims of unsafe driving; not because of road conditions, other drivers, or traffic, but their own personal decisions. The choices made before or after driving are the ones that most effect the safety of the road. The worst thing in the world is doing everything right, but still ending up the victim in a situation.

The beginning of my senior year was without a doubt the best couple weeks I have ever experienced in my entire school career. The pandemic completely changed the learning environment the year prior and completely separated everyone from each other. The sense of normalcy that everyone felt the first day of senior year is a feeling I will never forget. That feeling continued on for weeks up until late August. I was sitting in my AP Spanish class during what I expected to be the best school year ever. However, all of that changed within five minutes. We had received word that two friends of mine were involved in an accident earlier that morning and died at the scene. Four girls were driving to South Carolina for a vacation before school started, but ten minutes before reaching their destination they were hit head on by a woman, drunk, driving over seventy miles per hour in a stollen Hummer in the opposite direction. They did not deserve this, and it is a prime example of how important driving safety is because you never know what can happen, even if you are doing it right. Most of the time it’s the people who do nothing wrong who are impacted. This tragedy united our school, community, and the city of Fishers to advocate against drunk driving and shine a light in honor of the girls who did not deserve this. I have become more passionate around my parents, friends, and relatives about drinking and driving and being safe because of this situation. This is truly something I don’t want anyone else to have to experience.

A couple months later, the same school year, a few sophomores and juniors from Fishers High School drove up to Chicago for a fun weekend trip. While driving back Saturday, in the middle of the night, the driver fell asleep at the wheel and crashed, instantly killing one of the passengers. Personally, I was not close with this group of people, but I have close friends that were. It hurt seeing them mourn and grieve over this tragedy. I am passionate about making safe choices when driving, and after this occurrence, I do not want to see friends, or anyone have to go through this much grief. There are minor and very severe cases of unsafe driving. I will use these experiences to advocate for safe driving and making good choices as passengers and drivers.