Think Before You Do

Emily Phillips

November 4th, 2020

Think Before You Do

It was a typical Thursday summer evening for me, my dad and I headed down to Joplin for basketball on the busy and fast-paced interstate. Cars and huge semis with 8 axles passed by as we traveled to our destination. The ride there was smooth and quick, but as we left to make our return home the already dangerous interstate now had darkness on its side. As my father and I were driving we were in the left lane getting ready to pass another car when we saw lights shining from behind us that quickly became bigger as each second passed. All of a sudden a car tried to whip through my dad’s car and the car next to us. The driver’s wheels began to skid on the asphalt of the road, she overcorrected and went flipping off the road into the bushes along the interstate. There, a once eager 15-year-old, willing to drive sooner than later, had witnessed why she had been limited to driving with her parents and why this privilege must be given a year later after practice. It was to ensure that I would never be in this type of disastrous situation that I had just witnessed.

As I sat from my dad’s car while he went to go investigate and see if the woman was okay, a million thoughts went through my head. “What if dad would have been driving a little faster?” “What if she would have hit us?” Why was she moving so quickly?” “Was she distracted?” “Was she under the influence?” All I could think about was questions. I was in shock and had never seen anything like this before. With this wonder came interest. I thought it was wrong for me to find interest in this situation but it was so compelling and I wanted to be more involved. I wanted to see what had happened to the woman and what I could do to help. This interest turned into fear when I saw a paramedic coming out of the brush with a bag. There was something in it but I was too far away to see. As he came closer and the lights from the ambulance shined on the bag it was then I saw an outline of something, a leg. The woman’s leg was in that bag and the paramedic was carrying it as if it was just another object. I could not believe what I was seeing and was ready to go home. As we started home the ride was quiet, I sat and pondered with my thoughts about what had just happened. I had told my mom when she called that “I was okay, I wasn’t scared”, but as we continued driving and my Dad finally spoke the words “You okay?” I broke down and cried. I had realized that with the interest I once had with the scene also came with being traumatized. It made me think about myself and driving since it would be something I would be doing next year. As we finally made it home my mom told me they already had a news report up about the accident and apparently, the woman was distracted while driving. Though this situation in my life caused me great shock and haunts me to this day sometimes, it made me see that I must grow up. I must learn that specifically with driving, it is not a force to mess around with because as I witnessed, one false move, one text, one too many drinks, etc.. can end your life or someone else’s in an instant. With this freedom, I so longed for I now saw the responsibility that must come with it. I learned that life isn’t a game, you don’t get to respawn after you die. It taught me that yes, live it to the fullest, but when living it be aware of the consequences that come with your actions.

After seeing this tragic accident I decided to create my own motto for driving. My motto to think before doing. Yes, driving is within a fast-paced environment with cars speeding all around you, but it is important to think about your decision before you simply act upon it. I always do this to ensure I am safe while driving. I also make sure to keep any distractions out of my reach such as my phone. I always choose a radio station before I leave the house and leave it on that station even if I don’t like the song. If teens can accept these simple tips that I have used to stay safe it can cause our younger generation to simply disregard distractions while driving and cause the environment of transportation to be safer and more efficient overall.

Yes, my tips are simple and can benefit individuals who read my article, but that is where my help stops. If information is only being provided about safe driving habits to people who read these articles we are missing a whole population of people who have not been exposed to this type of awareness. We have to find a way to get this information out to all drivers. A solution to this would be starting this education in school. We can install driver safety lessons into our health classes in school. Health is a required class meaning all kids must take it to graduate so if we can have a driving safety lesson in these health classes that means all of the student body will have to hear information even if it is just a mere amount about how to be safe when driving. Ultimately this information could help save lives. When we teach driving education whether it be with positive or negative examples it teaches kids how their actions can have consequences. If we can instill in a child’s mindset the proper driving habits it can reduce the number of driving deaths we see within our environment. Along with proper driver education within schools, we should also make it aware to all of the public of simple things to avoid doing while driving to ensure safety. Every year we should make people aware of the traffic laws, how certain drugs will affect the system and how they can impact an individual’s driving, ways to make distractions less intriguing, etc…in order to reduce the number of motor vehicle deaths we see each year.