What is at Stake

What is at Stake

You hear about the dangers every single day. The news always has some sort of accident or crash displayed for the public eye, yet we never think it will be us. My dad was a police officer for 13 years. I grew up hearing countless numbers of horror stories that happened on the road. Being a safe driver has been engrained into me since I was little. I have always thought that being a safe driver is one of the most important things ever. Always wear your seatbelt, never be distracted, and make sure others in your car are safe. Being a safe and alert driver is extremely important. Not only so you yourself do not cause a crash, but also so you can be alert if someone else is the one causing unsafe driving conditions. I know personally I would not be able to live with myself if I was the cause behind someone else's injury or even fatality. 

One time while I was driving with my mom, there was a lady who hit us because she did not realize we were turning. It was not for the lack of turn signal, or enough break time. The reason for her distraction was her cats. Her two cats were not in a carrier or restrained in any way. They were crawling by her feet causing her to be distracted and unable to find the break in time. The damage was simply on one of my moms taillights, so we exchanged information and let insurance take care of things. A week later there was a fatality crash on the news. A woman crashed on a highway because she was on her phone, and lost control of her vehicle at a high rate of speed. Out of curiosity my mom looked into the crash further. Turns out it was the same gal who had hit us a week prior. This goes to show how being a safe and attentive driver can make a difference between life and death. The lady who hit us allowed herself to be completely distracted while being behind the wheel and it ended up causing her to face the worst outcome possible, her own life. It is examples like these that show us why being a safe driver is so important. I also think it is important for people to realize that you could be the safest driver in the world but you cannot control other people's actions. Such as the lady with the cats. My mom was not doing anything wrong, but the lady behind us was not paying attention, which thankfully only resulted in my moms car needing to be fixed. 

My mother has a coworker who had a grandson that died from being a victim to reckless driving this last school year.. He, a 14-year-old, was riding in the backseat of the car and the driver participated in racing with another car. That in itself is dangerous enough. The driver then had to take his exit but was going way too fast. He lost control of the vehicle and crashed into another car. He caused severe injury to himself and took the life of two little boys, which included the grandson of my mom’s coworker. It took away someone's brother, son, grandchild and nephew across two family systems. The choices we make on the road have a severe impact on not only our life, but those around us. 

I was driving some of my friends somewhere once and I had not noticed at first but two of them did not have their seatbelts on, and one of them was completely turned around backwards in their seat. I know that I should have checked for seatbelts first, but I assumed that because we were all old enough to know the dangers of cars and could drive that we all had seatbelts on. The second I noticed in my rear view mirror, I pulled over to the side of the road and told them to put their seatbelts on. I did not get back on the road until they did. I explained to them about how if we got in an accident they too would get tickets because they were 16 and older. Once we were done and on our way back, I made sure they had their seatbelts on and made it very clear that if they did not want to oblige to my request, they could ride in one of the other cars but not mine. It does not seem like a huge deal wearing a seatbelt while driving in town, but in reality wearing a seatbelt while driving is always necessary. 

My parents taught me that car and road safety are not something to joke around with or take lightly. I will always be an advocate for safe driving and being responsible behind the wheel, because you never know if you will be the next cause or victim in an accident.