Bad Boys for Life : Self – Conscious

Christopher Kirkendoll

Texas Tech University

Drivers ed Initiative

Bad Boys for Life : Self – Conscious

It was January 17th, 2020 at around 4pm in the evening when I received a text from my fellow classmate. Over the past semester I’d recently become close with a few of the students in class and had gone to the movies with them on several occasions. The bright light of my phone’s screen almost seemed to blind my eyes behind the darkness of the bookstore’s basement where I work. After lowering the brightness of the screen and recovering from the shock, I could see that the message I’d received was an invitation from Erving to see a movie later that night. I’d already had a clue as to what movie he was referring to because it was something that both he and I were looking forward to seeing for some time now. I replied that I would be free sometime after work around 8pm that night and we scedueled to meet at the front of the apartment complex that I was staying at. After I was finished with my work I met with Erving along with one of my other friends, Will, and we took off to see the movie we’d long been waiting to see, “Bad Boys For Life”.

We left the movie theater that night satisfied with the film, so much so that we spent nearly 3 hours just talking about the film in Erving’s car while listening to music. Now that I think about it, I really enjoyed the time that we spent together and I look forward to making future memories. The real trouble started on our ride back to the apartment. I noticed that Erving – who was currently driving – began to bring up some interesting topics. Knowing him, I’d understood that he was definitely someone that was passionate about something once he started. However, this caused him to become distracted from the road in front of him and he began to drift back and forth. His eyes were no longer entirely fixated on the road and his speed began to steady increase as time went on. His turns became much too sharp to bear and he’d often try to run yellow lights to prevent getting stopped. It didn’t take long for Will and I to confront him about keeping his attention on the road in front of him. When we did, we managed to keep a level head, focused on the road, and we were able to make it home safely.

Although things happened to work out for us, unfortunately not always the case. I’d always learned that keeping your eyes and mind on the road is key to being a good driver. I’m sure Erving also understood this as well, but his enthusiasm had unfortunately taken over his subconscious. This is why it is important that people are educated about the importance of noticing their surroundings, and as passengers to be the second pair of eyes to spot potential danger for both our and the driver’s safety.