The Roads of 2016

It was late Thursday evening, and my father had just driven me home from school. My brother and sister—who had already settled into their nighttime routine—were lounging around; my sister was doing her homework for the evening, and my brother was playing video games on his computer. I, too, fell into step with my nightly routine and settled at my desk to start on my homework. However, this night was different from countless others. Something felt different, something felt wrong.

My mother is a college professor at her alma mater, Mercy College, and an accountant for Mount Sinai Hospital. Every Tuesday and Thursday, she would teach a night math class to college students, often arriving home as late as 11 p.m. On this particular night, my mother never made it home.

This has been a recurring nightmare since my mother’s accident in 2016. It was a late Thursday evening, the entire family was at home awaiting my mother’s arrival from work when my father received that dreaded phone call: my mother would not be coming home that evening. My father decided to drive to the hospital to see her alone that night, and my sister and I—as the oldest—had the task of getting our younger brother to bed and putting ourselves to sleep as well. The house was eerily quiet that night, and the tension was palpable. As expected, nobody slept as we all prayed for our mother’s well-being. None of us were prepared to become a single-parent household, and none of us would accept it. Fortunately, my mother only suffered minor injuries from her accident, including a torn ACL, which was operated on that night. We were so lucky, but not everyone is.

At the time of my mother’s accident, I was only nine years old, and my family had just recently moved to Westchester from New York City. My mother and I would commute to the city for school and work, and with the added distance, driving became a significant part of our routine.

New York City is renowned for its public transportation, one of the most efficient and advanced systems in the world. Due to this, New York City schools do not prioritize driver’s education or road safety. Many people never even learn to drive until they are much older or not at all in the city. Very few people, including my parents, drove into the city for work, so our newfound commute was certainly an adjustment. As I grew older, it came as no surprise that I would struggle with driver’s education because everything was so new and foreign to me. I had never heard of or seen most of the things I was learning, and I didn’t fully grasp the dangers of being on the road. After about a month of driver’s education, I took my road test.

The second I got my license, I wanted to hit the road, go on a road trip, and drive around with my friends from the city. My parents constantly reminded me to be careful on the road, to stay focused, and most importantly, not to text and drive. My newfound independence and freedom made me a reckless young driver, and as a teenager with a buzzing social life, it made me a reckless young driver with a cellphone.

It wasn’t until I got into my first fender bender that I started heeding my parents’ warnings. Thankfully, my first accident only resulted in a few scratches on my vehicle. However, it completely changed the way I viewed driving and the responsibility entrusted in me every time I get behind the wheel.

After my first fender bender, I went on an internet deep dive into statistics about the percentage of teenagers getting into fatal accidents, severe accidents, and minor fender benders like mine. I learned that every day, nine teenagers aged 15-20 die from motor vehicle-related injuries and nearly 3,000 teens die every year in motor vehicle accidents.

All I could think about after my accident were the various ways I could end up in a fireball of metal and rubber on the highway. That night, I was transported back to my nightmare of that Thursday evening in 2016, trapped in the endlessly deafening silence of fear and the unknown. However, my nightmare was different. Instead of my mother only having minor injuries from her car accident, she never made it home at all. My fender bender truly opened my eyes to the lack of education provided to young teens about the dangers of being on the road, myself included.

There is a crucial importance and responsibility that driver’s education holds in teaching students to fully respect and understand the rules of the road. Driver’s education teaches students the true reality of getting behind the wheel. I believe public schools in New York City and throughout the country need to reintroduce driver’s education into the high school curriculum. Whether students decide to get their license or not, it is crucial that everyone is educated and exposed to driving safety instruction. Unfortunately, I did not take driving seriously until after my first fender bender. It’s important to instill diligence in drivers before they get into an accident and become the next victim on the 10 o’clock news. Integrating more driver’s education into the school curriculum ensures that the important messages about road safety reach the adolescent target audiences.

There are various steps that can and should be implemented to reduce the number of deaths related to driving. One is to share more online simulations of past car accidents during driver’s education. Sharing real-life stories of the horrors careless driving inflicts on the lives of others and on individual families will give drivers a better perspective on how many people are affected by poor driving education, safety, and regulation. Another step to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is to increase the level of rigor in obtaining a learner’s permit and road test. In certain cities, towns, and villages, many young adults are barely passing their permit and road tests yet still obtain their licenses. If people want to be on the road, they must show commitment and a willingness to work hard for it.

Now, as a more experienced driver, I continue to commit myself to the responsibilities of being on the road. I live and drive by the words of my mother, “When you are on the road, you have to drive as if everyone around you is crazy and you are the only sane one on the road.” I adhere to this philosophy, and it keeps me on high alert at all times and I always remind myself of how I felt that dreaded Thursday night in 2016, but I will also trust my abilities and always respect the rules of the road. Driver’s education needs to teach people to not only respect the road but to also respect themselves and to value their own lives. We learn to live in this world, let’s also learn to drive in it too.

This essay recounts a life-changing experience from 2016 when my mother was involved in a car accident. It explores the emotional turmoil my family faced, the transition from using public transportation in New York City to driving in Westchester, and my personal journey from being a reckless young driver to a responsible one. Emphasizing the critical importance of driver’s education, the essay advocates for its inclusion in school curricula to prevent accidents and save lives.