Every Second Counts

I’ve always been taught that a car is a machine. This might seem obvious and that's exactly what I thought for the longest. It wasn’t until I got into a car accident. I remember it so vividly even though it happened years ago. I was on my way home from a medical program at Wayne State University. I was in the car with my mom and my sister. Seconds before the accident I remember seeing some guy on the side of the street and I thought he was selling mattresses. I felt the car rock and I looked up to see one of those very mattresses in the window of the car. I didn't understand the gravity of the situation until I heard my sister start screaming and crying. That's when I realized that this was serious. Little me was trying to figure out why that man threw a mattress in the car window. As my mom got out of the car to talk to the police I heard her say “...thankfully her head hit the airbag”. Airbag! That's what it was. We were all taken to the hospital where I got this purple owl stuffy with a mosaic of colors, my sister got the pink one. We were both in the same hospital bed and had doctors coming in and out worried about us. Ever since then I was curious about different types of accidents and ways they can be prevented. I started watching a youtube channel called Every 15 Minutes. It portrays distracted and drunk driving in a different light. Topics like those are taboo and gruesome but it's the truth that we all need to address.

When I finally started driver's training it gave me more insight as to why people see it as being behind a wheel and not as operating a machine. People see driver's training as a chore. They see their license as a badge and not a privilege. A lot of the children in my driver’s training didn’t pay any mind to the instructional days and only showed interest when we were driving. I understand that it feels like class or school, but as soon as you get the permit you’re not only driving for yourself, but you're also driving for the people around you. My mom always told me, and still does, to never let anyone bully me off the road. There are so many aggressive drivers on the roads. If they didn’t plan ahead and are late they’ll try to rush you to your destination. Things like that are the reason why there are many accidents. Driver's education prepares you. That's the whole point. It’s whether or not you accept the correction or not. 

It's impossible to avoid accidents completely because accidents happen, but these are some things that I’ve been doing and everyone can do to try and reduce the number of accidents that happen. Wearing your seatbelt is a given. As a child I’d never been too keen on wearing my seatbelt. I felt as though it held me back. After the accident I started wearing it and I even pulled it to the max and let it go so it would wrap tightly around my body. It made me feel secure and it was something I did every time I got in the car.  Another thing is to maintain the following distance. I was always taught to make sure you can see the back two tires of the car in front of you as well as the road. My mom also says to maintain a car length. The biggest way to reduce the amount of car accidents is to avoid distracted driving. It's good to point out that distracted driving is not just being on your phone. It can be having music too loud, having a serious and emotional conversation while driving, and eating while driving. Whenever you get too comfortable driving you start to do careless things and just brush them off and continue to do them. Skipping a song, sending a text, and switching playlists all takes 3 seconds max, but it takes less than one-tenth of a second to get in a car accident.

Car accidents impact the lives of others as well as your own. It can change the way you look at driving. It’s not meant to intimidate you, but I believe that intimidation is good because it allows you to keep your head on a swivel and be a cautious driver. Cautious driving is defensive driving.