My grip to the steering wheel tries to match the stentgh of the steel it is made from. Visibly, I look like another young teenager ready to conquer the road and experience the freedom of driving. On the inside, however, I am a petrified child wishing to hold his mommy's hand for safety. My grip tightens as a multitude of outcomes enter my mind. What if I become distracted while driving? What if I speed up too quickly? What if I forgot all the rules my parents taught? What if this was the last time I saw my parents? To me, driving never gave me freedom, but fear. All the lessons, all the videos, all the horror stories drive me into a paranoid, frightful driver who second guesses his every decision. That is why I used to grip my steering wheel with such ferocity.
It is an unfortunate fact that traffic accidents constitute a high percentage of deaths every year, specifically being a leading factor in the deaths of people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. The disturbing thing about these deaths is how varied and preventable they are from obvious factors such as being distracted on your phone or even looking away from the road for a split second can increase the chance and severity of a traffic accident. In my own state, Texas, has one of the highest percentages of traffic accidents in the country with 4,068 accidents, with 4,498 reported deaths. In fact, the Texas Department of Transportation reported that there were no deathless days on Texas roadways in 2023. These facts filled my mind when I was undergoing my driving education, making all the progress from earning my permit to passing all my driving modules into a foreboding ritual to the inevitable day I got my license.
Mentality is an underrecognized variable in driving. Were the teenagers who were involved in accidents worried about how they would get home safely or if they were following the rules of the road? Or were they worried about impressing their friends or living the way they wanted to without regard for others? My school did not teach me how to drive, but consistently taught me the mentality to drive with that being “defensive driving.” Through constant repetition and examples, they made me understand how to think like a professional driver, such as being able to never underestimate potential obstacles on the road and to predict the safest procedures to drive. Defensive driving’s emphasis on developing the right thought process to drive successfully could motivate people to become adept at thinking like a professional driver, hopefully lowering the rate of traffic accidents per year in the long-term.
I have never been in a serious accident before, whether as a passenger or as a driver. However, there is one moment that always stays with me to remind me to always drive safely and how mentality influences driving. It was a late, chilly winter near the beginning of winter break. I was busy reading when my mom suddenly went to the door in a hurry. I asked what happened. Without missing a beat, she said” your aunt was in a car accident.” My eyes froze. I remember not hearing a single sound, just focused on what she said. As we went to the hospital, anxiety filled me. Was she hurt? How bad was the accident? When can I see her? We finally reached the hospital. I nearly rushed through the door. I expected to see my cheerful, positive, energetic aunt to greet me, and tell me it would be okay. I did not recognize who I saw that day when I went through that door. There was no life present in her usually vivacious eyes. She could barely look at her own nephew’s face. Her voice was pale, and it sounded like she was about to break down. It was terrifying seeing this strong, energetic woman be reduced to such a fragile state from an accident. While she did emerge unharmed and was able to drive again, I never forgot that fragile face of her eyes and the life that was taken from her eyes. That showed me the danger that driving can do to a person.
Driving does not impact in a vacuum. It is why instructors always say drive for others as well as yourself. Instead of approaching it solely from an analytical or detached standpoint, people need to understand how driving influences us emotionally. You are the difference between a person seeing their loved one again or for the time you took from them by focusing your own self. I still feel frightened whenever I drive, but not out of debilitating fear. It is a healthy understanding that I am responsible for people seeing their families and living their life. I grip my wheel wanting others to feel the freedom of life I never got to experience. That is what tightens my grip? What tightens yours?