Name: Julia Florek Carlson
From: Chicago, IL
Votes: 0
“BRAKE!”
I
still remember the crunch as I slammed on the brakes, whipped the car
into park, and broke down on the steering wheel. “That’s it,” I
declared between sobs, “I’m never driving again.”
Luckily,
the damage was not major, only a dented license plate. I had been
driving home from volleyball practice during February of my sophomore
year with my mom around 9:30pm. At the time, I was determined to
complete the 50 hour driving requirement and get my license as
quickly as possible. When I pulled up to my street and went to
parallel park, a skill with which I had little experience or
confidence, my mom tried to guide me through the steps of parking.
However, I quickly became frustrated because I simply could not
follow her directions – she had learned to drive in Poland, where she
grew up, and did not know how to communicate the steps of parallel
parking to me. Flustered and exhausted from my volleyball practice, I
shifted the car into reverse, but stepped on the gas instead of the
brake, resulting in my car colliding with our neighbors’ car behind
us. My Driver Ed teacher’s voice echoed in my ear: “most car
accidents take place less than 2 miles from home.”
“Don’t
worry too much,” my mom tried to assuage me, “I did the same
thing when learning to drive.”
While
this was an honest mistake, and I wasn’t distracted, per se, this
experience definitely put my confidence and determination to drive on
my own in check. I understand now that driving while tired, such as I
was after volleyball practice, can lead to careless mistakes while
driving that can be life-threatening. I took a long break from
driving after this incident, but became much more aware of both my
surroundings and of myself upon resuming driving.
There
are a few main lessons that anybody can learn from my experience:
-
Check
in with yourself – being
self-aware is just as important as being vigilant on the road. If
you feel tired, think twice about driving, especially if you are a
new driver. -
Remain
calm – if you become angry or
frustrated, you are more likely to make rash, impulsive, or not well
thought-out decisions while driving, meaning you’re more prone to
making potentially dangerous mistakes while driving. -
Don’t
be afraid to ask for help – as
a new driver, it’s normal to make mistakes or be unsure how to
respond to a situation while driving. It’s better to ask how to
make a maneuver than to get overconfident and assume you know how to
do it. There’s nothing embarrassing about asking for help; it’s
far more embarrassing to get into an accident because you thought
you knew what you were doing.
While
one might say I had to learn these lessons “the hard way,” I feel
fortunate that my accident was only a minor one in which no one got
hurt, and as a result of it, I am now a much safer driver.
