The Rightness of Right of Way

The cool September
night in 2011 didn’t hint at anything significant. My dad, as he
usually did, walked to the supermarket after work to get groceries.
Waiting for his nightly funny stories, I sat in my room.

Then, the landline
phone rang.

And all of a sudden,
I heard a commotion of noise downstairs.

Curious, I waited on
the stairs, trying to decipher what was going on. I heard bits and
pieces—ambulance, hospital, hit by car. The urgency of my uncle’s
voice on the phone seemed to confirm it all: my father had gotten
into an accident.

I remember feeling
the simultaneous rush of heat and frigid cold running through my
body, as my mother rushed me to bed. Anxious, I stared at the
ceiling, waiting for my dad to walk through the door. That night, he
never did.

Thankfully, the
car’s collision with my father wasn’t fatal. In fact, his
injuries healed after a couple months. But the pain that he had to
endure for these months, bed ridden and helpless, was avoidable, had
the driver who struck him practiced safe driving. It was a matter of
not following driving regulations: this driver turned at an
intersection at the wrong time, when my father had the right of way.
This careless mistake highlighted the impact of time: had he waited,
my father would have safely crossed the street instead of being bound
to a hospital bed, having metal rods being put in his legs to fix his
broken bones.

There is a reason
why permit tests and road exams expose you to the numerous tasks you
must perform as you drive, from indicating turns to being aware of
your blind spots: every choice you make on the road can go horribly
wrong. As you turn the ignition to turn on your car, you must be
aware that you are in the right state to drive and are in a capable
vehicle to drive safely. Most importantly, you must be aware of
directional rules on the road, as the drivers around you and the
pedestrians nearby are counting on your ability to prevent harm. The
driver that hit my dad did not heed to this responsibility, which
transcended into the safety of the world around him—including my
dad.

Everyone is
accountable for safety on the road. Every time I review the driver’s
manual, I know I am fulfilling the responsibility to keep roads
functioning safely. As I work to receive my driver’s license, I
will keep this duty in mind.

Thinking back on
that fall evening, I learned a valuable lesson: signs and traffic
signals aren’t a suggestion, they are imperative instructions to
follow. I kept this in mind as I took my own permit exam—if I
didn’t know what these instructions meant, there was no way I could
confidently get on the road. But most of all, I made a goal that day:
I never want anyone else to experience the pain my dad suffered.