A Backbone for Safe Driving - By Jabria Bruce

My mother told me to always pray for safe travels, but one day my parents received a call that my brother and his friend had been in a life-threatening car accident. When we got to the hospital, we were told that my brother had a broken backbone, neck and spine and that he would be paralyzed from the neck down and would never walk again. I was very worried about my brother and the recovery he would face ahead; the life he would live never being able to move. I also wondered, why did this happen? How did this happen? Did he use all of the safety precautions that I had heard about from my parents? Although I’m a driver now, I wasn’t a driver when this happened to my brother. Later we learned that in addition to the road being slippery from rain, my brother and his friend were distracted at the time of the accident. They were listening to very loud aggressive music, laughing and joking and they also did NOT have on their seatbelts. The outcome of my brother’s life was a hard lesson to learn, which I’ll share shortly.

I’m a driver now and I had to take drivers ed class, but my brother did not have to take a class. For me, taking the class played a major role in my respect for safety when driving. I remember being in class watching videos of accidents and it instilling fear in me. The class taught me about distracted driving and I remember thinking that I would not be a distracted driver. My brother actually received his driver’s license in a state that does not require driver’s education and I do believe that if my brother had taken a driver’s education class, he would’ve been more attentive to the road or more safe while driving. I believe that since he did NOT take a drivers ed class, which would’ve allowed him to see the possible dangers and effects of distracted driving, he wouldn’t have taken for granted the seriousness of being safe. He would’ve remembered RULE NUMBER ONE, PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT AND DO NOT ALLOW YOUR PASSENGER TO RIDE WITHOUT A SEATBELT, but of course this was not important to him because he did NOT get reinforcement of this through a drivers ed class.

Did you know listening to music while driving is only a distraction when the music is aggressive and being played loudly. Further, in a study, when it’s the driver’s own playlist along with it being aggressive and loud, driving performance worsened with their preferred music. It caused more traffic violations and errors, engaging in more aggressive driving behavior, and increasing their risk for distraction. On the other hand, the study showed that calm music or no music increased driver awareness which was not the case with my brother.

My brother’s car accident did not end in death, but many do die from driving accidents. In order to reduce the number of deaths related to driving, there must be an increased education regarding driver safety. There should be an abundant number of commercials on TV and ads on social media, which would reach those who live in states that do NOT require drivers ed. Those who have had the education, MUST take what they’ve learned and seriously abide by it. As I drive up and down the roads, I take heed to what I’ve learned in class. I even remind my parents to be safe when I see them doing things that are unsafe while driving. I personally wear my seatbelt, use my signals, do not ride with friends in my car, listen to music at lower volumes and I always keep in mind what happened to my brother when he was driving unsafely. Speaking of my brother, he went through an excruciating surgery and have pins and bolts in his body. He went through hard physical therapy that left him crying many nights. He spent many months in the hospital yearning to walk and go home, but today, with a long road to recovery far behind him, he can walk and run and is now a safe driver. Unfortunately, at the expense of my brothers backbone, we both have developed A BACKBONE FOR SAFE DRIVING.