I Haven't Been in an Accident Yet

Driving
is a privilege that many people take advantage of on the road. I am
still a relatively new driver and I would be lying if I said that I’m
as safe as they come. My parents put me through an intensive driving
program that is always in the back of my mind when I drive, along
with things I have picked up along the way. While I had a three hour
driving test to get my license, my friends who took it at the DMV
only had to go once around the block and five minutes later were
awarded the responsibility to put their life and others in their
irresponsible hands. Drivers tend to fix themselves after they get
into an accident. They fix how they drive after they have to spend
thousands of dollars repairing their car, or worst case scenario if
they have to watch someone else die or get hurt. It is difficult to
change people’s mindsets about driving because most of the time
they justify their driving by saying “I haven’t gotten into an
accident yet.” But why would you drive in a way that could result
in an accident? How much time do you really save and what good does
it do to curse out other drivers.

I
myself have never been in a serious accident, I have been rear ended
but with only a slightly busted bumper. I am lucky, because on the
other hand my friend has gotten into a serious accident. He had been
driving distracted and like an idiot and crashed into a car,
completely taking off the other car’s bumper. This was the inciting
incident that caused him to be a safer driver. Being in an accident,
he knows he does not want to be in that situation again especially
when it could have been so much worse.

On
the complete opposite end of the spectrum we have another one of my
friends. She is highly aggressive and pretty much only practices very
offensive driving. Our friend group has unanimously come to the
conclusion that she is the single most worst driver we have ever
seen. She tailgates people and cuts them off if they are too slow and
takes to vulgar hand gestures to top it all off. Repeatedly I tell
her she needs to drive more safely or else she will get into an
accident and I’d imagine with her driving the accident would be
pretty serious. She refuses to listen no matter what she is told.
I
want my friends and family and loved ones to be safe on the road
without being in an accident first to show them what could go wrong.
I think the only way to bring attention to these drivers about how
they drive is just speaking up about what might make you
uncomfortable while they drive. Then again, people tend to be very
defensive about their driving so worst case scenario just refuse to
drive with them. I could definitely improve in my own car; my
patience usually takes a leave of absence when I drive which is very
irresponsible.

A
lot of the time, or at least in cases that I have seen, people are
educated about the dangers of driving recklessly but just choose to
ignore the facts about car accidents. Every day, roughly 3,287 people
die in road related accidents. More than half of those people are
people within my own age group or my parent’s age group. Those are
only the really serious crashes too, those statistics do not include
regular crashes that do not end in serious or fatal injuries. People
take the approach that ignorance is bliss when it comes to driving
rather than taking it upon themselves to try to go against the
statistics and actually be safe drivers. I think that maybe if the
driving tests were a little more strict and difficult it would
incentivise people to actually be aware of the burden they accept
when they begin driving.

Driving
is a huge responsibility and people act as if it is a right instead
of a privilege. So many of the deaths caused by car accidents could
have been prevented if the drivers were taught to take care in their
driving instead of being reckless and endangering innocent people.