Show, Don’t Tell

Show, Don’t Tell

Driver
education is the key to keeping drivers safe and wary, but not in the
traditional way that some might think. When people hear the phrase
“drivers’ ed”, they often imagine a car full of sleepy
teenagers and a nervous instructor in the passenger seat, seconds
away from pressing down on the break at any given moment. But the
most impactful day of drivers’ ed was, for me, the day when we were
told a horror story. A mother who had lost her son to a texting
driver came to speak to us, and we all saw rather than heard the true
impact of neglecting the rules of the road. Textbook mantras
translated into tear-stained cheeks. Suddenly, every lesson of the
course seemed less like a dreary textbook exercise and more like a
necessity for survival. Certainly, learning how to control a vehicle
and learning the rules of the road are required to be a safe driver.
But more than that, drivers must be shown, not told, the urgency of
learning these things, of practicing them, of internalizing their
importance and the potential consequences of ignoring them. Safe
drivers are drivers who understand not only the rules, but also their
importance.

In
order to reduce the number of deaths on the road, we need to
implement more programs in schools and drivers’ education courses
to demonstrate the effects of drunk, distracted, and/or careless
driving. It is one thing to be told about the consequences of
distracted driving, and another to experience a warning pang of
guilt, a shock of fear; it is another thing to look a mourning parent
or sibling or friend in the eye and tell them that you will ignore
the rules of safe driving. I’m not sure anyone could do that.

When
someone renews their license, they should also be required to watch a
video outlining the potential fatality and lifelong remorse that
could come with poor decisions behind the wheel. This would ensure
that those who have long been finished with drivers’ education, and
for which the impact of talks and videos have faded, are reminded of
their responsibility as a driver. Whether a teen driving recklessly
down the highway at night in a car loaded with friends, or an adult
talking on the phone and texting at traffic lights, everyone needs to
be reminded with real world examples of consequences that are
impossible to ignore.

Though
I have never been in a car accident, I have witnessed my fifty-five
year old father texting at red lights. I’ve witnessed friends
twisting around to talk to someone in the back seat and keeping up
with traffic even when traffic was going twenty miles per hour above
the speed limit. These are small things, and luckily, they have
never led to tragedy. But any day might be the one when our luck
changes. A small, oft repeated, never thought of action yields
consequences that no one expected.

I
certainly do not plan to engage in any of those behaviors, but then,
no one plans to get into a fatal car accident. To ensure that I keep
myself and others safe, I often watch the videos I’ve described.
One of the most impactful includes a woman whose family was killed
because of an inattentive driver texting at a red light; the car was
not even in motion. I won’t lie and say I never get the urge to
respond to a text at a red light, but when I do, that video comes
back to me, and I decide against it. I also ask a friend or parent
to drive if I know that I’m tired or faced with a weather condition
I don’t yet have enough experience with, and I never drive when I’m
angry just for the sake of blowing off steam. Additionally, I plan
to start using the “do not disturb” feature on my cell phone
going forward. By following these steps myself and sharing them with
friends, I can do my part to make the road just a little safer.