Everyday, around the world, countless people break countless rules in the flow of traffic; whether it’s forgetting your turn signal on an empty road or aggressively nosing into traffic on a busy Delhi street, it is both very easy and very common to break at least one rule. Sometimes, though, these accidents can be worse than others- negligence, even for just a second, can seriously injure or even kill another person on the road. Still, people, whether through a lack of care or just a long day at work, do break these rules, and invariably, a good number of these people are caught, and getting caught, generally, is just a bad place to be. It’s embarrassing, and I’d know- even though I’m a fairly diligent driver (comparing myself to the average Texas driver which, unfortunately, is a pretty low bar), I forgot a turn signal and got a ticket. It wasn’t a huge thing, but being hit with a two hundred and fifty dollar fine and an eight hour course was, at least in the moment.

What mattered, though, is how I improved afterwards; I knew, then, too, that I could improve, and so can you.

To become a better, safer driver, the first thing you need to do is to realize what you did wrong- if you really didn’t do anything, or there was some mistake, you can always fight it in court, but we’ll assume that you really did blow it. When I first got my ticket, I assumed that there must’ve been something wrong, but, at the end of the day, I had to just accept that I did mess up; with that, I learned to pay a little bit more attention to my turn signals because I knew, at least in the past, I hadn’t paid enough attention to them. Ultimately, with this lesson in mind, the first and most important element in being a better driver becomes clear- you need, at the very least, some amount of humility and self-reflection. Once you’ve got that, you’ve crossed the border at least ninety five percent of people don’t even bother to cross.

Next, you need to decide what you’re going to do better and work at it. Like improving any skill, it isn’t enough to just identify what you’re doing wrong and doing right- you need to sit yourself down and practice. Don’t just forget that self reflection; instead, take yourself out to practice that valuable lesson you’ve learned. If you left your turn signal off like I did, consider taking a few laps around the block to really drill in the reflex of flicking the light on when you’re turning; if you hit someone accidentally, maybe practice driving in a busy parking lot to get your nerves back in check. If you’re like me, too, you’ll need to get over that measure of anxiety that getting busted gives you- practice, as it did for me, will solve this for you.

Furthermore, when you look at what this is truly about, a few things become clearer; when you take these steps to learn and grow yourself as a person, you don’t just help yourself. When you drive safely and make it a habit, you make helping other people a habit, too- when you might’ve crossed over into another lane and hurt someone by forcing them out before, now you know to be conscious and aware of where other people are on the road. Furthermore, when you learn the rules of the road from Drivers’ Ed, you also learn what other people should be following; when you learn to recognize what people are doing wrong, too, you can start to realize two things: what you need to do better, and who to avoid on the road! Not only does this process of self-awareness help refine your personal character, all of those little errors you prevent add up; one little slip up could kill someone, and keeping an eye on yourself can help prevent any number of deaths on the road- including yours!

Overall, though, there’s one major thing you have to decide on when you run out of luck- will you take that lesson to heart, or will you continue to ignore what you’re doing wrong until you end up getting in trouble for it? Will you make yourself into a better driver, or will you not? With how many resources are available to help you learn these days, too, there’s no excuse to not become the best driver you can be- at the end of the day, then, why not try?