In March of 2019, a new movie came out on Netflix, called Walk, Ride, Rodeo. The story of Amberly Snyder, a barrel racer, who became paralyzed in a car accident. She overcame many hurtles, and eventually ended up riding again. Not only that, but she was also the first paraplegic rider to win the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo held in Las Vegas, every December. Amberly continues to ride and rodeo to this day.
The accident scene portrays a gut-wrenching accident, where she lost her map on the floor of the passenger side, unclipped her seatbelt and reached over to grab it. She then lost control, overcorrected, flipped and was ejected from the vehicle. This scene hit me like a brick wall! I can’t count the number of times I was traveling to different internships all over the U.S. and did the exact same thing to pick up a CD, my phone, or whatever else dropped. The realization of how lucky I am that nothing happened to me was sobering to say the least.
The summer before my senior year in High School, I was cruising down the dirt road from our ranch back to the fairgrounds. My parents had let me take the car home the night before to shower and sleep in my bed again. Our ranch is far enough away from the fairgrounds that we sleep in a camper at the fair during that week to take care of our animals. The dirt road up to our ranch has a section where the landscape gradually inclines so that you’re hugging a sagebrush covered hillside as you snake down the road, while also having a sharp drop into the creek bottom on the other side.
Normally, you do not get cellular service on this section of road either. I was headed back, as I still had to clean up my steer’s stall and help the family get the camper packed up. As is normal for teenagers, I was driving my mother’s Dodge Durango faster than I should on those washboard roads and didn’t think anything of it. My phone started ringing as my best friend’s name popped up on the screen. It was odd to get any call coming through that spot. Distracted, I curiously looked at the name on the phone screen, knowing I couldn’t answer it, but wondering why it was even coming through. BANG! I look up and see nothing but sagebrush and the car climbing the side of a gradually inclining hill and almost tipped on its side.
My instincts said don’t touch the wheel, just brake! Thankfully the large sagebrush bushes helped slow me down. I stopped on the flat, right before the ridge inclines again. My hands were quivering, as was my whole body, my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it. I got out of the vehicle and prayed that nothing had happened to the car. Miraculously there was not a single scratch on it. I slowly backed up, got the car back on the road, and very gingerly proceeded down to the mailboxes.
Now that I was back in cell service, after I stopped and caught my breath, I called my friend to tell her what had just happened. When she answered, I knew by the sound of her voice, she had something worse to tell me. She proceeded to inform me that two girls, my age, coming seniors, who we also rodeoed with, had gotten in an accident and passed away. Ten miles from their homes, two of the sweetest and most talented girls were coming back from a trip out of town. They did not have their seatbelts on, the driver fell asleep, overcorrected, and they were both ejected from the sunroof, dead on impact.
The next year, a gal who was a year younger than me, summer before her senior rodeo season as well, was hit and killed in a head on collision. A driver from the other lane fell asleep and crossed over into her lane, thankfully her young nephew who was also in the car survived.
Driver’s education is one of the most important educations that we get in life. Driving is not only a privilege, but it is a massive responsibility. The weight of which I think is lost on most people at one point or another. We get too comfortable, we get distracted, we get overstimulated, and careless, and a lot of the time that can mean at the cost of a life. Whether that be yours or someone else’s.
Education on the importance of seatbelts does help, but we can do more! I think we can require people to take education courses more often in their lives. When we are renewing our licenses, and have to retake tests, we should also be required to take another crash course in D.E.
How easy it is to get distracted with technology while driving is one of the largest reasons for distractions. With the capability of cars these days, there is no reason we can’t disable a lot of distracting functions, while still having limited emergency, navigation and even music functions for far less distractions.
I personally take steps to limit my distractions, not keeping my music too loud, not changing my music all the time. I also am aware of my vehicle, and its needs on the road. While hauling a horse trailer, I drive the speed and distance from other cars based on my knowledge of how long it will take me to stop versus the time it takes a much smaller vehicle to stop. I know that it is my responsibility not to be hazardous on the road, and I take that responsibility seriously, as I hope everyone else will. Let’s all do our part to keep each other safe.