The Unspoken Implications of Being a Driver

In
the time that I have been a driver — a little over a year — I have
had the fortune of never being in an accident. This doesn’t mean,
however, that I haven’t come close. There have been heart-stopping
times where I’ve watched an oncoming driver drift over those double
yellow lines for a moment, rendering me too flabbergasted to even
think about reaching for my horn. There have been times where a car
has pulled out in front of me a little too late, and all that stopped
an impact was my automatic bodily reaction to slam on the brakes.
There have been times, I admit, where I’ve been operating on as
little as three hours of sleep after a night of studying, and I
barely notice the halted car in front of me until I’m so close that
I have to skid to a stop. These close calls are a reminder of how
dangerous it is to be on the road, how safety should always be at the
forefront of our minds while driving.

As
an even further reminder of the necessity of caution on the road,
there have been not one, but multiple people in my life who have
gotten into an accident. The first person I knew to have an accident
did so before I even got my license — she was two years older than
me, a role model for responsibility and maturity, and got hit by an
oncoming truck as she turned right out of a stop sign. She was fine,
thankfully, but her car was totaled. The same happened to my other
childhood friend on the morning of prom, when she turned right on red
without noticing the oncoming vehicle. The same thing again happened
to my classmate when she made a left turn without a green arrow
without checking for oncoming traffic, assuming that because others
in front of her were turning, there were no oncoming cars. Every
person I know has not been injured, but the catastrophic, irreparable
damage done to their vehicles is a chilling reminder of the danger
associated with driving.

Each
of these instances have had something in common — the mistake of
assumption. Each time, the person has assumed there was no oncoming
traffic, no danger; but this is never the case. When operating a
large machine such as a car or truck, there is always an element of
danger that therefore begs caution. This is why one must always check
for traffic, always make sure the person with a turn signal is
actually turning, always drive slowly in unfavorable weather. These
are amongst the lessons I learned in drivers ed, both in
class and on the road, and it is this sort of education that has
allowed myself and other fortunate drivers to never have to
experience an accident. Previous to my education, I would have
blindly trusted the turn signal of another driver, and had no
knowledge of hydroplaning, for example. Drivers ed made me
aware of the infinite amount of variables we are exposed to while
driving, and has instilled within me a habit of caution.

To
encourage such cautious behavior in other drivers, we must, as a
society, discourage the casualness with which we approach driving.
Driving a car is a serious responsibility, and should be treated as
such. This means that extra safety measures should be installed in
cars. Even something as simple as allowing the driver to skip a song
on Bluetooth or AUX saves vital seconds spent looking at a phone
while trying to change the music. This seems a casual thing to do,
but at the wrong time, it has dire implications. Another safety
measure that could be installed in the average vehicle is a pull-down
screen to separate the front seats from the back, thereby eliminating
distractions. Measures such as these would streamline the driving
experience, eliminating minor difficulties which can become major
dangers given the serious consequences of driving mistakes.

However,
these measures are difficult to enact on a widespread basis.
Therefore, we as people must take steps to establish serious driving
habits within ourselves and our loved ones. This means putting our
phones on Do Not Disturb while we drive, creating playlists previous
to our trip so that we never have to reach for our phone to skip a
song, and establishing rules with our passengers as to the noise
levels in our vehicles. Even being careful with the seating of our
passenger, i.e. having the most responsible of the passengers sit in
the front with the driver, can make a world of difference. The world
of driving needs an overhaul in order to make our roads safer, and it
is with us as individuals that that change begins.