The Attitude of Driving

People are less likely to care about safety when they have a sour attitude. It makes them not pay attention to the road because they are blinded by their emotions. The behavior of the people around them can also influence their driving skills. Attitude with driving can start once someone first starts learning how to drive. Whether their parents or a professional taught them how to drive, how they were treated in the process greatly determines how they will see driving as they get older.

When I was 14, I was put into Johnny Rowland’s driving school. I had to do three major drives with an instructor and multiple smaller drives with my parents to get more hours in. My instructor for the first two drives stayed calm and joked with me the entire time I was with her, she built my confidence as a teenager who was terrified of going 65mph. She told me my spacial awareness was amazing when it eventually got dark outside. I was more relaxed while driving because she said nothing but encouraging words. She left before I could complete my third drive, and when I did, all the confidence she gave me left because of the attitude of my next instructor. She would grab the wheel and try to drive from the passenger seat. She ruined my mood when she told me that she might not pass me because I didn’t turn how she wanted me to. I did not perform my best because my attitude and the attitude around me was negative.

Cell phones are one of the main reasons so many car crashes happen in the USA. There have been laws put in place, but people still dont listen. I have witnessed cars swerving and coming into lanes they weren’t supposed to because of how distracted their phone was making them. The law advocates for no cell phones, but many new models of cars come with a big touch screen in the middle. They are solving one problem by causing a new one. Even putting in a location on a map app in a car requires looking at the screen. In some newer models of cars there’s a mouse, making the car seem more like a computer than an actual vehicle. Before the laws were put into place, there were less crashes because of phone distractions. Everyone had their phone above the steering wheel. Now that it’s illegal, people look down at the phone in their laps, completely takng their field of vision away from the road. Me and my family alike have gone at least 10mph under the speed limit because someone was so distracted on their phone that they didn’t put their foot on the gas pedal. 

Road rage makes drivers so upset that they become reckless just to prove a point. They tailgate and brake check, causing accidents that could have easily been avoided. They taunt each other by rolling down their windows and flipping the bird at cars. I’ve experienced and witnessed people getting run off the road because they were being tailgated. Serious accidents happen because of the amount of pride that some drivers have. Shootings happen on the highway because of how normalized it is to have a gun in a car. They get really close to each other while driving just to intimidate each other, just to go too far and flip over because it got out of hand. The crash of the car might lead to a wheel or another part falling off and laying in the highway. In the process, cars will swerve to get out of the way or crash into the object, resuting in another road rage related crash.

One of the most common causes of car crashes along with cell phone usage is drunk driving. It has become so common that police officers carry breathalyzers with them when they are patrolling. DUIs are given out too regularly. There’s even a normalized procedure of walking in a straight line while reciting the ABCs forward and backwards. When driving under the influence, the body is relaxed because of the alcohol. Without alcohol, the body is more tense and aware. This makes it even more tragic because the drunk person is more likely to survive the car crash than the sober victim, purely because of the lack of tension. Being an educated driver means being a defensive driver. Knowing where everything is and being able to react fast if something happens. Educated drivers learn not to road rage, keep calm, drive sober, pay attention, and not use cell phones or other things that will distract from getting from point A to point B. Educated drivers are the only way to stop accidents.