From Someone Who's Been in an Accident

Oftentimes, and especially here in the USA, new drivers are very young.  As we all know, the age you can legally get a drivers license is 16, and let’s be real here, that's a heavy responsibility to give a 16 year old.  However, your youth years are the BEST years to learn how to take on big responsibilities such as driving, because at that age, you’re still moldable and learning about life.  So it’s the best opportunity to engrave driving safety in your head.

Driving is very convenient, and that’s why so many people get their license, and get their cars, but it can also be very dangerous.  When you go out on a drive, you can never predict what is going to happen on the road.  However, the least you can do is take precautions to keep yourself, the people in your vehicle, and the people in cars around you safe.  It’s so essential to know your roads well, what the signs mean, what the lines on the street mean, how to know when it’s safe to move somewhere on the street, ect.  If you’re not confident in all of that, it’s best to educate yourself before you make a big mistake and cause an accident.  The laws of the road depend on everyone knowing them and following through with them, because in theory, the laws are supposed to prevent accidents.  That is why driving education is important in reducing the number deaths as a result of driving

Some steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving include: providing mandatory road law classes in high schools, even if you’re a pedestrian, and don’t plan on ever getting your driving license, it can be to your benefit to know these laws to stay safer when you’re trodding about.  As well as educating more people about the dangers of driving under the influence.  And I definitely think that getting your license should be more difficult to ensure the person being awarded a license is very competent.  I also think elderly people should take a test every year to make sure THEY are also still competent enough to continue driving.

I have been in a car accident before, and have seen someone die as a result of a road incident.  I’ll explain my car accident first.  It happened at around 8:40pm, I was at my college, it was a long day, and I was so ready to go home.  Right ahead, on the road that leads into the college, there is a traffic light; it was yellow.  I thought I could make it, so I sped up a bit(to about 35 mph), but what I totally forgot was the deep dip right before the light.  My car was going 35 mph when it hit that dip, I lost control of the vehicle, and ran into a lightpole, which totaled the car.  Nobody was hurt but me, and even then, all I had was a few burns and scratches from the airbags.  It was a traumatic experience, and I stopped driving for about 6 months.  It was my fault, and a very idiotic mistake of mine, but it was because I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings, and I wasn’t careful.  I now know better than to try and beat the light, it’s better to slow down and wait 45 seconds than to wreck your car and risk your life.

Now for my other story.  I was driving back home around 9pm, when in front of me, an SUV hit a teen on a bicycle.  It was a pretty dark road due to the lack of lighting, and the kid wasn’t wearing any bright clothing, and I'm not completely sure if the lady driving was at fault here.  Either way, I saw him on the floor with blood coming out of his head, and I saw the ambulance workers put a body bag over him, he died on the scene.  The lady driving was devastated that she had just killed someone, she didn’t see him, and either she was distracted, or the boy was distracted, but either way, we must pay close attention to our surroundings on the road, and especially at night when it’s dark.

A few steps you can take to be a better, safer driver are: wear your seatbelt and make sure everyone in your vehicle is wearing one as well, regularly check your vehicle to make sure everything working just fine(tire pressure, tire health, oil, brakes, ect), drive sober and awake, be aware of your surroundings but not distracted, know where you’re going, and drive carefully through unfamiliar territory.  A seatbelt will make sure you or anyone else in your vehicle won’t go flying out of your windshield in case of an accident, it will greatly reduce the amount of physical damage done to you or others compared to not using a seatbelt. Regularly checking your vehicle is important because the last thing you want on a long trip is having to stop because of a car failure.  Even on the streets, someone might not expect your car to go down and then it causes an accident.  30% of car accidents are caused by drunk driving, need I say more?  Don’t drive under the influence of anything, even if medically prescribed, it affects your ability to drive tremendously. Be aware of your surroundings because what if you want to change lanes, but you didn’t see the car right there and it causes a bad accident.  Know where you’re going because getting lost often results in driving into unfamiliar roads, or making bad driving decisions as a result of being frustrated from going the wrong direction and trying to get back on track(speaking from experience).  We’re going to explore new and unfamiliar roads eventually, but when you do, make sure to do it carefully.