Enough

Before I could drive myself, my father used to drive me everywhere. He took my sisters and I to soccer practice, drove us to afterschool events, and sat in the driver’s seat on long family rode trips. Before his dementia set in, I believe driving gave him a sense of freedom, the independence to be his own person and live his own life. But for those unfamiliar to the disease, dementia is a debilitating condition. It affects not only the minds of the individuals who have succumbed to its relentless grasp, but also the lives of the people who love them. Dementia soon began to rob my father of his memory. Then, his vision. He began turning onto the wrong sides of the road at night, and the yellow lines that separated them began to blur as he weaved between the lanes. Nevertheless, he refused to give up driving and the independence that came with it. One day we got call from the sheriff telling us that my father had a diabetic accident on the road. Combined with his poor vision and memory, he began swerving across 4 lanes of traffic in a confused stupor. That day was the last straw. My father survived, but many children aren’t so lucky. Experience has taught me that education and self-awareness are the prerequisites to safety. Knowledge and application of the traffic laws in our given location enable us to drive safely. Equally as important, awareness of our own limitations allows us to protect ourselves and others on the road. This means having a disciplined, designated driver when drinking with friends or calling a cab to get home. This means leaving text-messages unread until parked at the destination to avoid accidents provoked by inattention. This means taking the bus or the subway when too sleep deprived to drive. And in the case of my father, this means sacrificing personal freedom and independence to preserve the lives of others. Passing a driver’s test is not the conclusion of diver’s education, it is only the beginning. As individuals, this necessitates a high degree of personal responsibility. We must make a continual effort to learn, adopt, and abide by the traffic laws in our area, especially when traveling to a different community. On a personal level, this responsibility manifests as adopting the aforementioned principles, speaking to others within my community about the magnitude of mortality in traffic accidents as well as the methods by which they can be avoided, and encouraging them to drive not only for themselves, but for everyone else on the road.