Safe Driving

Driver education is extremely important, so much so that State DOTs (Transportation Departments) spend millions of dollars annually on driver’s education courses such as, “Defensive Driver Training”. States typically self-insure and have learned the importance of Safety Plans and Safety Training for their employees. But it’s not just the government agencies that have recognized that driver education reduces accidents and liability, corporations also provide driver’s safety training for their employees. A driver’s safety awareness can make all the difference between a “near miss” and a tragedy, and education (including periodic refresher courses) is possibly the best way to promote this awareness. Statisticians have shown that driver education works to reduce accidents and save lives.

Accidents, and the deaths resulting from them, can be significantly reduced; by building and maintaining safer roads, by using accident reports and traffic studies to identify problem areas to be addressed, and then fixing those problems in a timely manner, by notifying drivers of upcoming hazards through Google Maps or other similar navigation apps, by using defensive driver “safety corridors”, requiring drivers to turn on headlights, by requiring contractors to submit Safety Plans for any work being done on or near the roadways, by improving new automobile safety equipment, by requiring all drivers to complete driver safety courses, and by incentivizing driver safety and awareness course completion through reduced auto insurance rates. Very young and very old drivers need to be evaluated for competency more often than other drivers, but all drivers should be periodically tested to evaluate their competency and their knowledge of safety awareness.

Just after midnight on Christmas Day, 2021, while driving on an elevated freeway, I was involved in a “near miss”, an accident that should have killed me. I fell asleep at the wheel while driving home. Home was less than three miles away. I remember suddenly waking up when my car hit the curb and went airborne, barely missing (I don’t know how) a guardrail and two large fir trees before crashing through a “Welcome to Grass Valley” sign and impacting the shoulder along the off ramp. My car then rolled, and rolled, and rolled sideways down the ramp before coming to a stop at the end of the off ramp. At some point the force of the rolling caused me to blackout and I remember waking up again lying on my side, tangled up in airbags and my seatbelt. I was disoriented, confused, and very frightened. Some good Samaritans pushed my car back up onto its wheels, helped get me out of the car, sat me down, called 911, and then let me use their phone to call my mom and grandmother. I looked at my destroyed car and cried knowing that I was very lucky to be alive. The ambulance crew and emergency room doctors knew my mom (she’s a paramedic), and told her that not only was I lucky to be alive, but that my injuries weren’t bad considering the path that my car had taken, and the resulting damage to the vehicle. If I had hit the end of the guardrail or either of the trees, I wouldn’t have survived. If my car didn’t have the safety equipment it had, I wouldn’t have survived. It was a life changing experience for me.

When I look back at what happened and think about the circumstances; I wasn’t speeding, the roads were dry, the traffic was very light, and though I was tired, I didn’t feel sleepy. I was alone in my car, driving on a route that I travel daily, and almost home. But I’m eighteen, and have only been driving for about two years. I didn’t have enough experience or knowledge to know about the dangers of driving while tired.

I’ve given that accident a lot of thought. I need to make as certain as possible, that I’m not involved in another similar accident, doing what I can to reduce my chances of having an accident. I plan on taking a defensive driver training course. My new car has full safety features, and I won’t drive when I’m feeling tired, or when I can’t, for whatever reason, pay full attention to my driving. I’ve also posted pictures of my wrecked car on social media and spoken to friends, family, classmates, and to everyone that responded to my posts about my experience. I plan to be aware not only of my driving, but to other drivers as well. I think that being aware of a problem before it happens gives me the best chance of avoiding another accident. I believe in promoting that same awareness in others, to lessen their chances of having a serious accident.