Breaking News: Four Dead, Two Injured Due To Distracted Driver. There seems to be some variation of that headline on the news every single day. Mostly innocent lives taken by those that are distracted.
It was a beautiful, sunny day and I was on my way to pick up my kids. I had a great day off from work and was ready to continue my great day. Unfortunately, the day took a turn when I was in a car accident. While I am lucky it was a fender bender, I did have to go to the hospital to get a CT scan of my neck due to discomfort and at the advice of my insurance. My first thought when I felt the jolt from behind, “Thank goodness my children aren’t in the car with me.” After the relief of knowing my kids were okay because they weren’t with me, and realizing I was okay, I confronted the driver. As I had predicted, he wasn’t paying attention because he was distracted by the bag of chips he was eating. The bag of chips that lay on the passenger seat were out of reach and he was more focused on getting the chips, than he was on concentrating on the road. While it may seem someone reaching for chips can’t cause much damage, it caused over $1,500 worth of damage to my bumper.
Accidents can happen in a split second. Nobody is immune to them, despite what some people may think. If you are on the road as a driver or passenger, you are at risk for being in an accident due to a distracted driver. Whether you are reading a text, sending a text, changing the channel on the radio, or another scenario. It only takes one second for it all come to a halt.
While living in a rural area, cars are the main source of transportation. So much that we just go through the motions as we do other daily tasks such as, making coffee, brushing our teeth, eating breakfast, or getting dressed. The main issue with looking at it as a daily task is we can’t look at driving as something we can do with “our eyes closed” because we can’t. You may know a road like the back of your hand, but you don’t know what lies ahead on your daily route because every day is different. The road may be the same, but the environment changes from day to day. Its not just other drivers that may cause the accident, but bad weather. We live in an area with cold, wet winters and that can cause dangerous driving conditions. We need to approach every drive with the same amount of caution and attention. Whether it is a warm sunny day like I was driving on or a cold, wet, icy winter day. Safety always has to be a number one priority.
When one drives recklessly, they aren’t just risking their own lives, but the lives of others. Every time someone sends a text or drives drunk, they are potentially hurting not just themselves, but others. One time, I had a driving instructor who told me my problem was I didn’t trust drivers around me. I stand by my decision to be cautious of others to this day. We are surrounded by people who don’t follow the rules of the road, use a turn signal, put down their phones, or stop eating the chips that are out of reach.
As a mom of two and a substitute teacher, I always make it a priority to let the kids know the importance of safe driving. From following the rules of the road to wearing our seatbelts, I make it a point to remind them of the importance of our actions, not just for our own safety but for the safety of those around us. We are sharing the road with mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, and people of all kinds. Their lives are not any less important than ours, even though we don’t know them personally. We need to treat everyone on the road as if they were someone we wouldn’t want to lose.
I can’t control how others drive, but I can make it a point to let those around me know the importance of their decisions behind the wheel. We should always drive like our loved ones are on the same road.