It won’t happen to me

Nearly 300,000 crashes/car related altercations happen each year because of young drivers lack of knowledge and education. It is important to understand that we can’t completely erase accidents because that is simply not possible, but we can educate our young drivers more. This will enable them to make smart decisions when behind the wheel that allows them to react with knowledge instead of fear. As a result of this we can instill confidence in these young drivers. A way to continue to reduce these accidents each year could be billboards, advertisements or just talking about it with your friends and family. For me, hearing stories from other people, friends and families experiences with irresponsible driving really perks my ears up to listen. When people hear stories about irresponsible driving that are strangers to them, it kind of pushes to the back of their mind after they hear the story, they think at least it’s not me. I think that lots of people are in the mindset of ignorance is bliss, and it could never happen to them…until it does. That was my mindset until this past weekend. I thought myself and everyone was immune to irresponsible driving until I was at target with my sister. We are walking through the checkout line and my sister says “Mimi texted that Uncle Sam has been in an accident and that we need to call her”. My first thought went to the worst case scenario. My mind was racing through all the different scenarios that could have happened. Where was he? Up North? Lansing? Did he crash into another car? I walk into the parking lot and immediately call my grandma. I ask her if Uncle Sam is ok. She says that he will be fine and my entire body got rid of the tense state it has been in. Luckily all that happened was that he hit his head and his legs were scraped up. I bombard her with questions but she doesn’t have answers. She says that my uncle didn’t know where he was when this happened, it was dark and he had no shoes walking through the snow because he lost them. I was just racking my brain for what could even cause this accident. Later that night I heard from my dad that my uncle had been driving and driving. The worst part about this news was that I really was not that surprised. I was also kind of disappointed, how could he be so irresponsible and risk his own life and others just so he could drive home. He says he obviously won’t do it again, but it only takes one time. Feeling immune and invincible to any kind of accident is not a good mindset to be in. He was lucky that he didn’t have more of a severe injury and/or injure others as a result of his poor actions. On the other side of my family, I have a grandfather that experienced near fatal injuries about 50 years ago from a drunk driver. He almost got killed and the three other kids in the car with him ended up passing away. That experience altered the course of his life and his future plans. That particular experience changed his life forever and he never has even had a thought in his head to go out and risk other people’s lives because he had too much to drink or needs to answer a text. Because of both of those family members I feel like I have more of a unique perspective on this because members of my family have experienced both sides of irresponsible driving. After knowing and hearing the story of my grandfather I could just never even fathom putting my life at risk or others lives at risk because I was selfish. I think that there are multiple ways to remind yourself and educate others about the importance of being alert on the road. Being able bodied to drive, and to have access to a car is a privilege itself. I think that when people start to forget those things they can become very selfish and forget their privileges. I really do think that is a great way to get more people talking about this issue. Overall, getting a conversation going in your local community about distracted and irresponsible driving is one of the best ways that you can make people aware of the issue and how to take steps to prevent irresponsible driving. Once you get the conversation going and make people aware, they are going to think twice before they make a selfish decision behind the wheel.