I get behind the wheel. I go to work. I go to school. I go to the grocery store, the movies, the gym, the park… I choose to drive. I also choose to drive safely. The choice is in the hands of the driver. Turning the engine on, putting the car in drive, pushing the gas pedal, and it’s all a choice. So is educating yourself.
Before you drive remember you are not only driving to get from one place to another. You are also traveling with other people. You are intercepting, maneuvering, weaving and crossing other people’s paths. Transportation and driving interferes with other people, and that puts their life at risk. Driving can cause death and in recent years it has increased, mainly as a result of being an ignorant and uneducated driver. That driver could be you or someone else. To prevent and reduce this, it is important to educate yourself. Not just yourself but all, and every driver. Uneducated drivers could impact you or your future. So don’t be that person. Don't be unprepared for situations that might arise on the road. It could save a life if you educate yourself. Reduce how many die each and every year. Drive responsibly. There isn’t much to it. Drivers education consists of laws of the road and traffic, and how to ultimately use a car. Simply put it is teaching drivers how to safely drive and prevent car accidents from occuring.
Drivers ed is one thing though and behavior is another. Be smart. Drive as if there is someone in the car that is important to you or drive as if someone that you deeply love is driving next to you. You wouldn’t want to risk their life or your own. Put yourself in the shoes of the other drivers. They don’t want to drive next to a reckless, dangerous driver. Neither do you.
Boom, crack, crunch. We skid off the road into the rocky ditch dividing the freeway. I look at my brother, his face riddled with fear and anxiety. Before that I had never been in a car accident. I was petrified. My perfect weekend had shattered, my vacation gone in a blink of an eye. My mom calmly asked if we were okay. I scanned the car. I could see the anger and frustration in my dads face in the rear view mirror, as he exited the car I took in the gravity of the situation as it laid out in front of me. Our car was totaled on the side and we had spun out because of another car. The other car was driven by a man and a woman- who were now arguing that it was our fault. My mom visibly rolled her eyes and was annoyed when in fact it was their fault. They were too prideful to take the blame even though we were stuck in traffic while they were free to roam in between the lanes. As they freely roamed and hit our car from the side. He kept putting the blame on everything besides himself: us, the car, and the other people in the car. At the time I was only 8 and my brother was 6 so I didn’t fully understand what was going on. I thought everything would be fine. Everyone was fine, but our car wasn’t. Now I know it could have been the brakes or the other people but once again he was the driver. He was behind the wheel controlling it’s every move. If he had been educated on what to do maybe we wouldn’t have been in a car accident? I wouldn’t have that memory. The anxiety every time I am in a car and see another car swerving. That wasn’t the case though and his actions led to an accident that could have been avoided. This was a small incident but there have been other, countless, that were more tragic and fatal, that have happened to others. All having one thing is common, they could have been avoided. Only if the driver was educated and responsible.
I drive. You drive. You will drive. Driving can be an effective, efficient, speedy way of transportation but it also can be dangerous. One of the many dangers and one of the leading causes of car induced deaths is driving with distractions. Distractions could be a phone, people in the car, music, eating, etc. On top of distractions there is also responsibility of the driver, of being fully attentive and aware as a driver. That means being sober and wearing what is required of the driver to have on in order to drive safely. That could be glasses, hearing aids, etc. Being ill-equipped could be fatal. Driving is a serious thing that should not be taken lightly. So it is essential to have nothing to take a driver's focus away from the road in front of them to distract them from what they are doing. By doing that, driving will not be as hazardous or precarious. Safety is of the utmost importance and concern of a driver. So should drivers education, to ensure safety on the road.