Driving Change

Driving Change

Being in a car accident can scar
you mentally and physically for many years, if not the remainder of
your life. I’ll never forget my accident. I was driving in the
congested Bay Area where you never know what traffic will look like
around any bend. I turned one such freeway bend and stopped traffic
came out of nowhere. I quickly braked and prepared myself for a long,
traffic-ridden drive home. However, the next person to round the bend
was not paying attention and I tensed up as I looked in my rearview
mirror, watching her coming in fast. She couldn’t stop her car in
time before it rear-ended me. While we were lucky that no one was
physically injured, that moment stayed with me. I was much more
hesitant on things that used to be commonplace for me. Things like
going head to head with someone in a soccer game now terrified me
when I used to be unphased. Even years later, I still nervously look
in my rearview mirror when coming to each stop to see whether the
person behind me is paying attention.

Through
my accident, I came to realize that there are so many things in this
world that can kill a person. We need to be prepared for the ones
that are most preventable. People cannot prepare themselves if they
don’t understand the danger. I never had to attend a driver
education class in order to drive, and I’m not alone in that. The
rules for receiving a driver’s license vary by state, but the
dangers of driving remain the same no matter where you drive. How can
we spend 15+ years in school learning history and geometry, but 0 to
6 months learning how to do one of the most dangerous tasks that most
of us will ever partake? Even a one-time drivers ed class is
not sufficient for something that becomes so routine in our lives. To
reduce the number of deaths related to driving, drivers should be
required to attend an educational class every time they renew their
license to reset habits to best safety practices. To make up for my
personal lack of training on the subject, I plan to attend a
defensive driving class, which I hope can help me deal with some of
my driving anxiety from the accident.

Additionally,
I believe the world needs to force people to pay attention to the
roads. It’s common knowledge that distracted driving is the leading
cause of car accidents and we need to take it seriously. For example,
some drunk driving offenders are required to install a car
breathalyzer that must be cleared in order to operate the vehicle. A
similar idea should be employed for those that are caught on their
phones while driving. An offender should have to lock his or her
phone in a device in order to start the vehicle. A few moments
disconnected from society are worth everyone arriving safely at their
destination.