The Meaning of Being “In the Driver’s Seat”

After initially scanning through the content of this scholarship opportunity, I reverted back to its title: In the Driver’s Seat. The term is usually used to describe having the lead, or control over something. “Oh, look at Usain Bolt now! He’s far ahead of all the other racers now! He’s firmly in the driver’s seat!” The idiomatic driver’s seat is a place everyone wants to be at; it is a place with no troubles or worries, a place of full power. I questioned why this would be the title of the scholarship.

A part of the driver’s seat that can be ignored, and possibly a bigger portion of the position, is that it is a place requiring much responsibility. Yes, you do possess much power and control much with your hands on the wheel, but while your hands reside at 10 and 2, the cost of failure reaches a point that it rarely exceeds in the average person’s life. I realized this when participated in a car crash during high school. It was my first year with a driver’s license and I was driving my younger brother home from school. This was very routine; I had made this drive quite literally hundreds of times. He was in the front with me and I was blasting loud music, doing little dances, and looking everywhere but straight forward. Over the sound system, I hear my brother scream “Look at the road!”. It was too late, and I rear-ended the van in front of us. My car was completely ruined, but the van, and most importantly all of the humans involved, received no physical issues. However, my perspective on driving changed completely when I looked over at my brother and saw the fear in his eyes. Something as simple as not paying attention could have ended his life in a worse situation. If I was driving alone, and he was not there to warn me to slam the break, the girl in the car that I hit could have died. This is not even hyperbole; most driving-related deaths are not caused by villains aiming to murder people. It is caused by a brief lapse in focus, and that lack of alertness is dangerous when commanding 5,000 pounds at 50 miles per hour.

I think it is important for people like me to tell their stories. If anyone has seen the damage that car accidents can cause, they should be loud about it. It is an important step for the safety of all. Those like me need to take responsibility, or hop into the driver’s seat, and try to induce change on our society. It is a simple thing that I have done to try to promote driving safety. However, it is not enough. As loud as I can be, and I come from a loud family, I can never be loud enough to reach everybody. This is why mandatory drivers’ education classes is necessary. Before people are allowed to sit in that authoritative seat, they need to be educated on the impact that every movement that they make can cause. Every action or inaction can grant you the powers of Death himself, you must be prepared to carry this weight in a vehicle’s steering seat.

I believe that is the first step to lower the casualty count each year. Through education, we should seek to instill a sense of responsibility in drivers to drive safely for others. There is a greater chance that anyone will do something if they are motivated. After this, the next steps are comparatively simple. They don’t need to memorize a driving manual from front to back to drive safely. You need to have your eyes forward, windows clear, radio at a decent volume, decent amount of sleep, etc. Do everything that you can to be focused on the road. When you think of distracted driving, what do you think of? Maybe you think of alcohol, but I think of using your phone, reaching under a seat, eating, doing makeup, and things of that nature. These are all things that can be done before or after you are securely stopped, whether it be at your home or your destination. Simply waiting for a more opportune time so you can focus would reduce driving deaths. These are practices that anyone can participate in, including me.

In closing, it is important to educate people before they get behind the wheel so they understand what being “in the driver’s seat” really means. It is a place of control, but control comes with responsibility. To reduce driving deaths, first we must understand the weight of the wheel, then remove tasks that have the potential to become distractions by doing them before or after the car is on. I now understand this weight because I caused a crash while my little brother was in the car. I will try to promote safety by proclaiming my story to those who will hear.