Tires screeched and a horn honked. I looked around the intersection- it felt like the world had stopped. All was silent except for the sound of my pounding heart. I finished crossing the intersection and pulled over, a man pulling up behind me.
Exactly two months after I got my driver's license I almost got in my first accident. I was taking a new way home from school to avoid road construction and the sun was in my eyes. As I was crossing a busy intersection, what I thought to be a clear passage instead led me to be inches away from getting hit. We were both perfectly fine -no dents or bruises- just a little shaken up. I drove home with shaking hands and tears rolling down my face.
As a senior in high school, I’ve seen my fair share of bad driving; parents answering phone calls, sending text messages, and choosing the music behind the wheel; friends speeding, tailgating, and running red lights. Part of me thinks it’s taught to us from a younger age. When we’re first learning to drive we do what our parents teach us. ‘Gas is on the right, ‘You have the right of way’, and so on. On the other hand, I think we, as insecure teens, teach each other.

At the ripe old age of fifteen, I understood where I fit within the social hierarchy of my high school, and this was not very far up. Although I had accepted my own fate, I wasn’t naïve enough to think those around me had accepted theirs. They’d brag to each other about who started driver’s ed and who’d be getting their license first. Driving is cool. Impulsivity is cooler. What I’m trying to say is I’m not surprised when I watch two of my classmates drag-racing down the street after school is let out or getting cut off by a vaguely familiar face at a green light when I’m driving my younger cousins home. Over the past few years, I’ve slowly become desensitized -I think we all have a little- and it’s not okay. Does being a hazard on the road make you cool? Your poor choices get a laugh out of your friends in the backseat but what about the cars driving next to you?

A father driving his kids home from daycare. A mother running errands before work. An elderly couple getting out of the house for a bit. Dangerous driving puts the lives of everyone on the road at risk.

In 2021, reckless driving reached the highest it had been in sixteen years across the country. Milwaukee, Wisconsin has seen the number of fatal crashes double in the past two decades. Reckless driving is real and I see it every day in my own community. I believe it is the responsibility of those of us who have earned our licenses to have enough respect for our peers to value their lives and keep our roads safe. Driver education can do this. Before I was able to get my license I had to complete thirty hours of online courses where I learned the basics like the meanings of road signs and parts of a car. Along with this, I read crash statistics and watched videos from families who lost loved ones to reckless driving. After that, I was tested and thus able to begin my behind-the-wheel training. It has been proven that these courses improve a driver’s knowledge of safe driving and make them more conscious of risky behavior. My license was in no way just handed to me, it was something I had to work for, and I am proud to say I earned it. Because of the courses I took, I understand the importance of driving responsibly and I know not to abuse my power.
“In America, an average of 34,000 people die each year as a result of driving. This is more people who have died in one year as a result of driving, than the total number of American soldiers who have died from war in Iraq and Afghanistan combined”. It is data like this that sticks with people- I know from my own experience of reading this off the DMV scholarship website. The media covers story after story about people who have lost their lives due to reckless driving and viewers, like myself, no longer realize the true issues. If platforms were used to share data like this quote alongside such stories, they would have a much deeper impact on viewers and could aid in the reduction of deaths related to driving by making these stories much more personal.

I see dangerous drivers every day. I, myself, can be one at times. I would be lying if I said I didn’t speed up a little more than I should to avoid hitting red lights on my way to work some days when I’m running late. I know reckless driving is wrong, and I remind myself each day the repercussions it can have on those around me. Two months after I turned sixteen I almost got in a car accident. The car pulled up behind me and a man in a suit got out. He was just driving home from work. I was just driving home from school. We were two strangers who met because of my poor decision.
I learned early on that when driving, things can change in a matter of seconds. I shouldn’t feel ashamed to tell my friends I feel unsafe in the car when they’re speeding, and I shouldn’t be embarrassed to tell them that their actions could affect the lives of others. It is our responsibility to keep each other safe; your few seconds of fun are not more valuable than the life of another human.
Today, I never go without double-checking that intersections are clear. That extra glace could save someone’s life.
When a car speeds past me so fast I can feel my own vehicle shake, I take a breath. There will be reckless drivers everywhere I go. I don’t have to be one of them.