You Survive When You Safe Drive

Meghan Masden

Senior in High School

From Cambridge, Maryland

You Survive When You Safe Drive

When I was 11 years old I had the opportunity to drive my first vehicle, and no it wasn’t a car, instead, it was a four-wheeler. I’m from Cambridge Maryland, a small town that contains a lot of country life around it. As a result, my childhood best friend lived in the country and I would always go to her house. For Christmas one year her father had gotten a four-wheeler for her as a gift because she had been begging him for one for years. When I came over she was so excited to show me and take me out for a ride. We road all around in the woods and at first it was a scary thought but it soon became very fun. About a month later after begging and pleading for her to let me drive it around by myself, she finally let me. I was having a blast until I had to make a sharp turn or else I was going to run into a tree and as I was turning the four-wheeler flipped over and I fell. Luckily there were only some minor scrapes and bruises but it could have been a lot worse, especially if the four-wheeler had fallen directly on top of me.

Fast forward four years later, at the age of 15 and nine months, in the state of Maryland teens are eligible to get their permit. Taking the permit test isn’t what had scared me, but getting behind the wheel for the first time had me sweating with nerves. I was now going to be driving a much bigger vehicle than just the four-wheeler and although I knew it was a lot safer to it because it had more protection, it still made me nervous that something could potentially go wrong causing me to get severely hurt. My parents started me off with practicing in a big open parking lot where there weren’t any cars or anything for me to bump into. With practice, my nerves slowly stopped as I got the hang of it and became safer in my car.

About two months before I was eligible to get my provisional license, I was required to take a drivers education class. Taking this class was not only mind-opening to me but the other individuals that were in the class as well. The reason why is because they showed us videos of people that have gotten into car accidents due to, drinking and driving, texting while driving, being distracted and so many other reasons. By showing people these kinds of videos it makes them truly be careful and look at all of their surroundings when driving. Showing students at a young age, right before they start driving, enhances the chance at them being more cautious and careful when driving then if you were to show adults. Once a person drives so much, it can be hard to break bad habits such as texting while driving, or even eating can be just as dangerous because once a person takes their eyes off the road, even if it’s just for a second, then something dramatic could happen just like that.

Instead of waiting until students decide to go to a drivers education class and watch those kinds of videos, schools should create a safe driving awareness day. This day could include videos of what safe driving looks like, but also real-life scenarios of what happened to people when they were not driving safe on the road. The school could also create an activity for students in which they create their own scenarios, or they could even share a personal story of their own of someone they knew that got into a car accident. By having students share their own stories, it can create more of a personal connection with their peers because their peers are more likely to take it to the heart than if it was just an adult telling them the dangers of not being a safe driver.

Besides the four-wheeler incident I had, I personally have not been in a car accident but my dad has. My dad used to work the night shift from 11 pm-7 am, at a juvenile detention facility, on the weekends as a side job. One morning as he was coming home he had at some point dozed off at wheel. As a consequence, he slammed into the guard rail that’s in the middle of the road to separate the traffic. Luckily, he was okay and there wasn’t anyone around that he could have potentially ran into and injured them but the situation could have been a lot worse. Imagine if there were people around if he was going a lot faster than he was, if he had gotten hurt and put in the hospital. There were so many possible options that could’ve happened but he got lucky, some people, however, aren’t so lucky. There was a case many years ago where a lady had fallen asleep at the wheel driving across the Bay Bridge in Maryland. A truck driver noticed she had fallen asleep and was driving to move out of the way so nobody would get hurt, but in the process of him avoiding her, he had slid off the bridge and into the water. Because of the lady's restless driving, a man lost his life.

I am now 17 years old and have been driving on my own for a year now. When I have friends that are being careless when driving I tell them that story. I tell them how crucial it is that they aren’t on their phones, that if they are driving late at night and feel tired to pull over and call someone. Putting not only their lives in danger but other people’s lives in danger to are the most selfish thing a person can do. When people get into a car accident and people either get hurt, severely hurt, or even die, it not only affects them, but it affects their family, their peers, if they had a job that job is now down a person, it can even make towns recreate the way the road was constructed in the first place. If towns see that there are a lot of accidents happening at a certain intersection then they may put in something such as a round-about to help protect the cars passing by. For myself personally, I try and always turn off my phone when I get in the car unless I need it for a GPS. This way, by turning my phone off, I won’t even be tempted to look at it if I get a notification. I try to always maintain the speed limit and never go too fast even if some people tell you to “keep up with traffic,” I will rather be safe then sorry. When talking to my friends, I always tell them to be safe while driving once they leave and if I see them being reckless I will call them out on it. If I lost any of my friends I wouldn’t know what I’d do with myself, so I rather inform them of what they are doing that could potentially cause an accident, then ignore it and something go completely wrong. As the old saying always goes, “if you see something, say something” even if you saying something results in people getting upset, being upset is better than not being here at all. Everyone is loved, and everyone matters to be a part of this world and to die of natural causes, not because someone was being reckless while driving.