I sat in front of the wheel, a little confused, pretty nervous, but slightly comforted by the experience I did have when it came to driving. I’d grown up driving a multitude of different machines from John Deeres to Go-Carts, but never had I driven a car before. I began slugging through the empty school parking lot feeling out the different pressures on the gas and the brakes. It began to dawn on me how absolutely terrifying driving could be. This vehicle could take me across the country, allow me to see the most beautiful sunsets, and see all the people I love, but it also could take a life. I’m not sure how many hours of practice in neighborhoods and parking lots it took me, but eventually I made it onto an actual road. And I came to another realization (as driving is not a one-time learn-it-all experience): I had to trust the other drivers on the road. Now, after having hundreds of miles under my belt, I still come back to the same principle; communication on the road is one of the best ways to stay safe and help others stay safe. Just as a soccer player must understand their teammate’s next move in order to take the ball to the goal, a driver must communicate their next move to the others around them in order for everyone to safely arrive at their destination.
Communication goes hand-in-hand with another key to safe driving: consciousness of your surroundings and habits. Driving requires a constant focus, so my friends and I have made a pact to always self-check before we shift out of park, and it consists of just this one question, “Am I in a state where I could focus enough to take a basic math test or serve customers in a restaurant?” It is only one question, yet it could be the difference between losing your savings for college or going to your dream school, a permanent mark on your record or a clean slate, and even life or death. It’s easy to watch the videos shown in Driver’s Education class and tell yourself that you will never be involved in a crash like that, because how often does that really happen? But it’s just as easy to look up the statistics and be shocked by the numbers you see. Just one crash can cause years of damage. A close relative of mine got into a serious car crash years ago; she’s suffered psychological damage and hasn’t put her hands on the wheel since. When the crash happened I was young and I remember someone nonchalantly shrugged saying “Well, every new driver is bound to get into a crash. That’s just a part of becoming a driver.” I did not think much of it then, but now I know that it does not have to be that way. Through communication and consciousness, everyone can and needs to do their part to make our roads safer.