In a split second

In
a split second, everything can change. Drivers ed is something
that should reduce the number of deaths while driving.
Unfortunately, ignorance is what kills around 1.35 million people on
the road each year. Everyone is taught to put on their seatbelt, to
not use their phone, and to be aware of your surroundings when you
are in a car, but not everybody follows those simple steps. Driver
education is vitally important to every person on the road, but it is
often overlooked because people have the mindset of “that won’t
happen to me.”

I
could say putting on your seatbelt, not using your phone, and being
aware of your surroundings are steps in reducing the number of deaths
in driving, but the reality is there are other factors ignorance
brings in, such as drunk driving. DUI related deaths are completely
preventable causes of death with prior, proper action taken, yet
drunk drivers kill around 30 people every day in the United States.

I
was recently involved in a car accident myself. It was a normal
morning. My mom and I decided to go out to the stores. I hadn’t
even left the front of my house when I got rear ended not once, but
twice by the same car. Thankfully, my mother and I came away from
that incident ok because we were wearing our seatbelts! The woman
that hit us was arrested because she did not pass her sobriety test.

This
incident could have been so much worse. I lie awake at night
wondering, “what if I was in my smaller car when that lady hit us?”
or “what if my sibling would have been in the back seat?’’ I
know that you cannot control certain things in life, but it is scary
how other people’s actions could have devastating results on my
family’s future. I thank God that nobody was seriously injured in
that accident. Life is a game of inches & seconds sometimes and
a few inches over or a few seconds earlier it could have been so much
worse for the people involved.

Being
a safe driver isn’t an option for me, it is a duty each time I take
the road. That is why I will always put on my seatbelt, put away my
phone, and be vigilant of my surroundings each and every time I
drive. Ignorance isn’t an excuse and these three simple steps
that were part of my drivers ed could have saved my life
and will save the lives of countless others who decide to follow
these simple rules of the road. Afterall, it only takes a split
second to make a decision that could change your trajectory of your
life and the lives of others forever.