A weapon in your hands

Drinking beer with family and friends on the weekends was my father’s favorite hobby. He used to joke and eat with them, and obviously, drink a lot. I grew up thinking that this activity, drinking and driving,was totally normal, since I saw my father every single weekend doing that. Until a day that he was involved in a car accident. Fortunately, on that day, my father decided not taking me with him. He passed the red sign and a truck hit right on the right side of the car, which would probably hit me. I was young, but I can clearly remember his face full of blood and scratches when I got at the hospital. My father had to go through risky surgeries, and almost faced death. From those days on, my dad started acting differently, and while I was growing up, he clearly taught me what I was supposed to do and not supposed to do while driving.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), in 2017, in Maryland, there were a total of 247 drivers with BACs > 0.08 killed, and in the US, this number went up to 17.662. Nevertheless, this is still a high number, since all drivers go through an education before actually driving. The problem is that many people think they know everything and is not necessary taking the driving education that serious.

My mother always repeated this sentence to me : “ Your car is a weapon in your hands. You can either save people with it or kill them.” This always scared me, however, I realized how true this sentence is. My father’s accident happened when I used to live in Brazil, where the education totally prepares people to drive safely. And also here, in the US, the Driver’s Manual talks about every single situation while on traffic.

Therefore, taking all these into consideration, the step I had taken in order to be a better and safe driver as well as help others become safer on the road is to follow what I had learned in my driver education classes. In the beginning, I thought that this was ridiculous, however having all these knowledge in my mind and also keeping the calm when something serious happens in the road is what has helped me to drive safely and keep others safe too. Finally, in addition, another important step is to have the conscience that at any moment something serious could happen,whether with you or with another person, that is, you, your family, and the other people’s family are at risk all the time. By having this thought, you will definitely drive more carefully.