July 5th, an extraordinarily dark night after a long day at the lake; with all of the fun activities of a July 4th weekend. Boating, tubing, and playing games, it was a full day of everything you could imagine. On my way home I looked down for a second and when I looked back up there was a frantic baby deer in the middle of my lane. One thing they teach you in drivers’ education is not to swerve and exactly what to do if there is a deer in the road. At this moment there was no thought running through my exhausted mind, and I swerved…the guard rail caught my front end just right, pushing my car back onto the road. At the same time I remembered I had breaks. My car skidded along the guard rail, bouncing back and forth hard enough for me to hit my head a few times and produce a grade-three concussion. I managed to regain control of the car and get back into the lane to pull over. Fortunately, there was minimal damage to the car and a guard rail in my path to keep me on the road. I pulled over and cried; the adrenaline and exhaustion sunk in and I knew that I was not of sound mind to drive that night when I left the lake.
Fortunately, in the story that I just told you, aside from a concussion and a headlight no one was injured in this accident, but there are many conceivable scenarios that would not have the same outcome. This is a great example of how sometimes things just happen, and you won’t always react the way that you think you will. However, understanding what I did wrong in this situation has made me a much safer driver, and I only understand the mistake in my driving skill because of the drivers’ education class that I took to obtain my license. There are so many important lessons learned through the drivers education course such as when there is an animal in the road use your brakes but don’t swerve into the other lane, how to avoid hydroplaning, and or how to correct in the chance that you do hydroplane, and defensive driving skills. All of the skills mentioned are easy ways to reduce the number of deaths on the road. If this knowledge is so easily tangible through a drivers’ ed course don’t you think everyone would know these skills? Well no actually, in many states, drivers’ education is not a requirement of obtaining your license. Depending on what state you live in and how old you are, you can obtain your license by challenging the applicable tests and you never learn the crucial information that is at your disposal. Driver's education is the best possible way to reduce the number of deaths by vehicle accidents and to ensure that it should become a requirement in all states no matter the age.
In addition, the next best thing that we can do as drivers to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is thinking about the consequences of your actions before you act upon them. I know that this is something that we are taught in elementary school; however I think that it is often forgotten. When I get in my car and drive to school with no seatbelt, I am risking my life without a second thought. Picking up my phone for a quick second to text my mom, I am risking my life as well as others, and when I swerve into the other lane for the deer in front of me I am again risking my life and others. All of these scenarios I have done without a second thought and I am sure most other drivers have as well. I personally am not a vicious or mean person, and every time I get in my car I have no bad intentions, but in a split second none of that matters.
Ultimately, the decision is always yours. Choosing to take the drivers’ education course then learning the basic car skills that can protect you from yourself, the defensive driving skills that can protect you from other drivers, and understanding the dangers of distracted driving protecting others from you; Choose to drive aware of your surroundings, the laws, and operations of your vehicles. Driving is a great privilege and truly makes a difference in the time efficiency, but it poses many dangers as well; making the choice to do it safely will always be the right one. Any one of these choices could have saved me from a major concussion and a long conversation with my Dad.