A Safe Driver

 

I have been driving since I was 16 years old. It was always a dream of mine as a little girl to get my driver's license at the earliest age possible. I craved the freedom of being able to drive wherever I wanted. I passed my permit test, begged and nagged my parents to pay for all the training, completed everything required, and got my license at the ripe age of 16. As the youngest child, my parents felt uncertain and hesitant about allowing their baby behind the wheel, not because I seemed like an unsafe driver but because we cannot control others' actions when they get behind the wheel. By the time I was ready to drive, my family had already been in multiple serious car accidents, all caused by others on the road. So I can only understand their caution when young me asked them for help in getting behind the wheel myself. 

The first car accident I was in, I was very young, but my family never lets the story die down to indicate the importance of safe driving. My family has told this story multiple times to my friends, my co-workers, the friends of my friends, and so on and so on. Mom was driving us to Chinatown in Los Angeles, and we were on the freeway when suddenly someone hit us from behind. This caused my mother to lose control of the vehicle, sweeping side to side and finally going off the side into the ditch, flipping the car over. My parents say firefighters had to help us all out of the car, and thankfully none of us were severely injured. 

The next car accident I was still young, possibly age 10, when my mom was driving me and my sisters home after picking us up from my grandparents' house. We were at an intersection when our light turned green, and my mom proceeded to go; a drunk driver T-boned our car on my side. Thankfully, we were not all seriously injured; I had to be stitched up behind my ear from the car's glass breaking, and my sisters had concussions. I remember someone helping me exit the car and seeing the guy who hit us getting arrested, constantly apologizing to me and my family. 

A recent event also happened that caused a reality check for me. The company I work for requires employees to use the shuttle bus transportation they provide and offer. These services are from two neighboring cities straight to the job site; they run every hour on the hour, 24 hours a day. Upon arriving at work, I was notified that a drunk driver had hit the other bus from the neighboring city head-on, and both vehicles involved were engulfed in flames. Thankfully, everyone on the bus had minor injuries and was taken straight to the hospital. Unfortunately, the other driver died upon impact. Arriving at work and hearing this story sent chills down my spine. Hypotheticals started playing in my head all shift: what if it had been my bus? What if I had driven myself in that morning? What if the bus had left a little later/earlier? 

That is why being safe in the driver's seat is the most important. We cannot control what others do in their cars, so we must be safe in ours to help prevent car accidents. A defensive driver is the best type of driver someone can be. As a driver, everyone is relying on you to be responsible and safe. Passengers in your car feel safe enough to entrust you with driving them to their destination safely; friends and family are waiting for you to arrive at your destination safely, and the strangers driving alongside you on the roads trust you to drive accordingly as well. Whether it’s a long endeavor or a casual short trip to the grocery store, an accident can happen at any time. Regardless of the distance traveled, it is crucial to watch the surroundings and others around. Being alert and aware is all it can take to prevent not only simple accidents but life-changing ones as well. Being a safe driver isn’t a heroic act or something out of the ordinary. It is an everyday expectation of everyone with a driver’s license. As someone who has experienced multiple car accidents firsthand, safety while driving is non-negotiable. I never want anyone else to experience the horror you experienced from a car accident, not only during but after one as well. Those memories stay with someone forever. Be a safe driver, or don’t drive at all simple and easy.