Slow Down and Look Around: Defensive Driving

Driver education is critical to safe driving and reducing the number of deaths on the road. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and like any privilege, it can be revoked if not exercised with responsibility. Driver’s education courses are in place to teach us how to operate vehicles in a safe manner. Specifically, driver’s education teaches defensive driving and the rules of the road.

Defensive driving is the practice of driving in a way to keep you and your passengers safe from harm. Much like practicing defense in a combat situation, defensive driving requires that the driver anticipate dangerous situations and take steps to minimize risk. Being aware of stop signs, eliminating distractions, maintaining an appropriate following distance, and signaling intent with turn signals are all techniques that make up defensive driving. The philosophy behind defensive driving is that if the driver is able to maintain control of their vehicle and keep a “safety cushion” around them then they will greatly minimize the chance of causing an accident on the road.

Along with making a conscience effort to follow the rules of the road, defensive driving is possibly the biggest reason why I have not been in a car accident myself in any vehicle I have driven in, even after driving for 10 years. I make an effort to maintain a safe following distance at all times, regardless if I am in the city or on the highway. I always use turn signals even for maneuvers as minor as pulling in to a parking garage or turning left on a “left turn only” lane. And I avoid excessive speeding, especially after I received my first speeding ticket. Sometimes it takes a mistake to learn a lesson, and I am lucky that my mistake did not lead to an accident.

Although I have stated that I have never been in an accident in a vehicle where I was driving, I have been in an accident as a passenger. I was in college and was riding with my friends in their jeep on our way to the beach. We were riding along on the highway and came to an exit, which was backed-up due to construction in the area. As we were stopped, out of nowhere, we hear the loud crunch of metal as we get rear-ended from behind. We all looked at each other in shock and turned back, seeing a sedan with a destroyed front bumper and a van pressed up behind them. Apparently, the van had hit the sedan, launching them into the rear of our jeep. Luckily, as we were in a jeep, we suffered minimal damage. But the sedan, not so much.

I ended up being the one to act first, as my friends were still processing what happened. I checked on the people in the sedan to make sure they were ok. The passenger was fine but the driver was bending over in pain. I then checked on the people in the van, who all appeared to be fine. On inquiring what happened, it turned out the driver of the van got distracted looking at the construction on the side of the highway and did not realize how close he had gotten to the sedan in front of him. He had only looked away for a few seconds, but that was all the time it took to cause the accident. Just goes to show that even a minor distraction can still lead to a wreck.

I ended calling an ambulance for the driver of the sedan. The ambulance arrived, along with a patrol car, and they helped the sedan driver into the ambulance via a stretcher. From what I could tell, she seemed like she had hurt her head, but was going to be ok. The police provided assistance with filing an accident report form and insurance numbers were exchanged for the record. Afterward, my friends and I decided to skip the beach and just head back to school.

That experience, combined with the speeding ticket I had gotten before, really encouraged me to be as safe a driver as I can be. If I were to help others to be safer on the road, I would tell them about defensive driving. I am not the type of passenger who will stay quiet if I am in a car and the driver is driving wild. At that point they are putting my life at risk, and I would prefer to not die on the road at the hands of another driver. I call my friends out if they are “tailgating” on the highway, running red lights, or just driving recklessly. I also try to help them out if it seems they are having trouble merging lanes, for example, they are having trouble checking their blind spots.

Speaking of blind spots, something I do that I never see any other driver do is check my blind spots every single time I merge, even if I already know that no one is there. I even check my blind spots if I am driving a car that has blind spot detection. I would say that is the single habit that has kept me safe all these years while driving, and I would encourage others to do the same. One look can be the difference between changing lanes, and changing your life.