Arriving Alive, Above All

Driving: an activity that takes up a large percentage of our lives yet, most people don’t give it much thought. You get into your vehicle, turn on the ignition and put it into drive; merge onto the highway, along with thousands of other people, and go to your next destination. Those thousands of people? Each of them has their own lives, their own troubles, and their own distractions. Sometimes that “distraction,” is a cell phone, a crying child, loud music, a talkative passenger, or a multitude of other things. Providing driver education for people who are aspiring to obtain their driver’s licenses can perhaps make those “distracting” moments a little less distracting.

The main purpose of driver education is to teach about the laws of the road but that isn’t all that driver education does. The course I took when I received my license in 2009 also educated about distracted driving and the dangers of drinking and driving. I remember suggestions about placing your cell phone in “driving mode” or placing it into the glove compartment. Although I believe that these minor adjustments are valuable suggestions, I believe that there are other methods that this education could touch on, to lower the incidence of distracted drivers. Regardless of my opinion on what should be included in driver education, I do believe that it has helped reduce distracted driving accidents among teenagers and new drivers. I do feel like if other methods were implemented, that the incidence of car accidents could be further decreased.

My theory is that the technique utilized in most driver education courses needs to be changed from the long and boring videos with a few questions at the end. Interactive courses and hands-on education shows an exceptional increase in how much attention is provided in any education setting. Utilizing diverse teaching methods in the classroom provides each student the ability to retain at least a significant piece of the information. I believe that providing a small introductory video to the program and an assortment of important (but short) videos throughout, intermingled with various hands-on activities, such as memory games or brain busters, and immersive experiences such as using the “drunk goggles” to emphasize the importance of avoiding drinking and driving would be an ideal itinerary to follow. I think that creating a more suitable atmosphere that is conducive to learning and retaining the information but also seeing the consequences of the “bad actions” at the student’s fingertips would help a teenager or young adult think twice before getting behind the wheel while drunk or high or reading that text message while driving down the highway. Do I believe that this will fix every accident from occurring? I do not. However, I do believe that many new drivers may acknowledge the dangers of distracted driving if they were given more examples of actual consequences of what happens if they decide to check that message or drink that beer. By “examples,” I am referring to having a family member of a deceased loved one or an incarcerated person who made a fatal mistake speak with every class. I am referring to showing actual graphic photographs (with the permission of families) of these consequences.

Apart from changing the methodology of driver education, there are other ways that people can become safer drivers. When teaching your teenagers to drive, stress the importance of knowing to watch what is ahead and to the sides of you, as well as checking your rear often. I believe many car accidents occur not only because of distractions, but because people do not have a cushion between their vehicle and the vehicles in front of or behind themselves and because people do not scan their front and peripheral areas. There are simple things that can be done to make the roadway safer for all drivers. For example, when I approach a stoplight and am the first in line, I always take a pause before going through the intersection in case a driver decides to run the red light. This simple maneuver has saved me from multiple accidents.

I’m going to tell a story now, about an 18-year-old and 12-year-old girls who were hit by a car. The year was 2010, it was dark and about 9:00 PM. The local fair was going on and these girls lived about ¼ mile down the road from the fairgrounds. When these young girls went to cross the street, a car going 60 mph on a backroad struck these girls. The driver and passenger reeked of marijuana and were tailgating the car in front of them. These cars were over a hill and their headlights could not be seen by the two pedestrians. When the first car approached the girls, they swerved and missed. However, the second car was so close behind the first one, that they struck both girls and flew them off their windshield. Luckily, one suffered only a small fracture of the ankle and the other had some extensive but non-critical injuries. I was one of those girls. The things I did wrong that night, as a pedestrian, was wearing dark clothing and having my younger sister with me. The things the driver did wrong? Getting behind the wheel under the influence of drugs, following too closely to another vehicle, driving 60-mph through a 35-mph area, among numerous other things.

The importance of following the rules of the road and proper etiquette while driving are obvious. Speed limits are posted for a reason and if you feel they are unfair, don’t speed through that area out of spite, but perhaps notify your transportation cabinet and petition for the speed to be increased or decreased. Allow yourself enough space that if the car in front of you has to stop immediately, you’re not panicking and slamming on your brakes, risking a fender bender. If you see a light turn yellow, do not run through it, but exercise caution because you know it’s going to turn red. Always scan everything that’s going on the road. If you see somebody driving in a questionable manner, stay a safe distance away and you could even call 911 about a suspicious driver and it could save a life. Keep your phone down. Always have a designated driver if you plan to drink or do illicit drugs. Many taxi services provide free services on certain nights to avoid drunk drivers so use these services to protect yourself. Something that people may not think of but I think about often is quit warning drivers when there’s a cop by flashing your headlights or posting on social media because it may be “saving” the speeder or drunk driver that ends up wrecking and killing either themselves or another person down the road. I guess I should say, “Think before you drive,” is the message that I want to leave you with.