It's Not Funny Anymore

 

Some people might view road safety as a joke. Speeding a little- or a lot- can be fun, and doing donuts in muddy fields. But what starts as enjoyment can quickly turn into pain, hurt, fear, and loss. More than 30,000 people in the US die from car accidents every year, and is the third top cause of death in America. While Driver's Education, the required class for accessing your license, can educate students well, many choose not to heed this advice, and drive recklessly anyway. 

But driving unsafely for a bit of adrenaline isn’t worth your life. 

I have a friend who often drives recklessly because he thinks it’s fun- and maybe it is, for him. He often tells us that while he’s driving above the speed limit, he’s being watchful, defensive, and careful. But what happens when he misses a turn, hits a patch of black ice, or rolls around a corner too fast in the canyon? Even driving defensively above the limit can’t keep you safe. The time it takes for you to lose control of the vehicle, no matter how careful you’re being, can be under a second, and driving too fast can perpetuate this. 

When my peers and I express our concern for his driving, he often blows us off and makes a joke of it. While this has no malicious intent, it is hard to watch as he doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions. 

Driving unsafe means you have less time to take in your surroundings. What if while my friend had been going 80 in the canyon, a car had spun out around the corner, and was in the wrong lane? My friend would have hit them head on, injuring or killing both parties. 

A similar thing happened to my father when he was a child. Instead of being in a car, he was on a bicycle- and when a truck came running through the crossing, he was run over. The driver was not driving defensively- while it’s important for pedestrians to look both ways and yield to passing cars, drivers are at the liberty of making sure everyone around them is safe. Just like my friend, that driver took the corner too sharp, and didn’t look to see if there was a danger. 

When recounting this story to me, my father often discusses how he began to bleed out from his leg, but a nurse witnessed the crash from a nearby house window, and came out to stop the bleeding with towels. He has expressed that if that nurse hadn’t been nearby, it’s likely he would have died. While my father was okay, many people involved in pedestrian-vehicle accidents are not. Nationwide, over 7,000 pedestrians are killed each year by motor vehicles. Since 2009, death rates in civilian accidents have increased by almost 72%, and account for 18% of all motor vehicle related deaths. 

The rest of the deaths related can be attributed to other things. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 30% of all vehicular crashes are caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol. In the moment, it may not feel as though the alcohol has impaired your vision or reflexes, but the illusion of safety is quickly removed. 

My father and I were once driving up a rural canyon in Southern Idaho, where we came upon a woman, covered in scratches and crying, on the side of the road. We pulled over, and my dad, who previously worked as an emergency firefighter, immediately went into medic mode and trekked down into the canyon where the woman’s car had flipped over. Inside, the driver was pinned under her seatbelt, and my dad found opened wine bottles in a cooler near the front seats. While everyone was okay, it showed that drunk driving is not something to joke about. The woman on the road told us that it had happened about 20 minutes earlier, and as I sat in the car, waiting for help to arrive, I couldn’t help but think she could have hit us head on, if we hadn’t been running late. 

See, my dad and I were on course to be in the canyon at that exact time, but we’d been pulled over on the highway for speeding, and been delayed. As a small, one-lane canyon road, if we had been there earlier, it’s highly likely we would have been involved in the crash. Sometimes, a small, split-moment decision can alter the course of your life. 

And this same sentiment can be attributed to that friend of mine- while driving unsafely in the moment can be fun, a split second slip can cause damage to not only your own life, but the life of your passengers- your friends, family, and loved ones.