The Force and Impact

2
tons charging at the speed of 40 miles per hour (mph), and to
anything standing in its way – a lethal and deadly force that can
create one big impact. At 70mph a car weighing ~1.5 tons has over
15.8 million pounds of force to release in a car crash. These cars
are a terrifying force of nature, that can only be controlled with
the right know-how. A single lesson can be the fine line between life
and death, a small scratch and a totaled car, and/or a slap on the
wrist and license being revoked. A single lesson can change
everything, it’s only a matter of if someone is willing to learn to
stay safe, an impact for a lifetime.

One
day, while driving home from school, a pair of teens named Mason and
Johnny, in different cars, crashed into each other. Mason, having
studied road safety for his license, was at a complete stop.
Meanwhile, Johnny was driving on the same road, and taking just 1
second to look at his phone, rear-ended Mason at ~35mph. Both were
driving SUVs and pulled into a nearby neighborhood, neither driver
was hurt. The cars, however, took major damage with Johnny suffering
tremendous damages. The night was cold and while Mason’s car had a
tailgate and bumper dents, but it was still driveable in the end.
Johnny’s car was totaled, the front was completely wrecked, losing
the grill, radiator leaking, exposed engine, and completely busted
headlights. Both of the teens had to wait in the chilly night waiting
for the police, to file a report, went home that night with cold
noses and cheeks. The force of the phone let one of the drivers
forget the rules, and the impact was that the same driver getting his
ride completely wrecked.

~1
million deaths occur from driving incidents happen in a year, sounds
low right? That’s because an additional 20-50 million drivers walk
away either injured or disabled. Most of these incidents could be
simply avoided if both drivers were simply focused, and paying
attention. Perhaps if both drivers both had the rules of the road
memorized enough to avoid these accidents. That’s all these are
accidents, no one wishes to crash into another, and after the crash,
both sides wish they would’ve avoided their situation. Drivers
Education is the most important step in one’s driving career, as
one’s knowledge of the road is tested and increased all in the same
lesson. The more tests and more lessons make the chances of getting
in a crash decreasingly smaller and smaller.

A
good education will get you far in life, however, a driver’s
education will get you far in a car. There is no such thing as being
too safe on the road, not when there are many people driving around
in 1.5-2 tons on wheels. Relying on the car to hold together simply
isn’t enough when it comes to car safety, for if something breaks
you need to be ready to handle it. The roads can be too unpredictable
to be wandering into to blindly, every person needs to learn and
respect the rules of the road. Even if one would find it a waste of
their time, forcing yourself to learn will forever make a big
positive impact in your life.