I was never one to take the risks

Safe Driving

Ever since a
young age I am careful about safe driving. Even when I was not close
enough in age to drive, I would warn my mother. I would warn her to
please put the phone down and let me help her with whatever she
needed on it. Or ask her to order something easier to eat on the road
that would not make a ton of mess or cause trouble. I guess you could
say it came from of those videos we had to watch in school even when
we were little. They really did scare us at a young age, and it
lasted.

I have never
been the daredevil type. I have always played it safe and worked
hard. I have never been interested in the idea of drinking, smoking,
or vaping. Do not get me wrong, this was hard being surrounded by
people my age who do not believe in it the same way I do. But I
simply turned my head and said I was not interested. When I was in
middle school, I remember hearing about a high schooler getting in an
accident because he was driving under the influence. When I was in
high school 4 students died in a car accident when they snuck out of
their house at 2 AM. 2 of the boys involved where from Stephens
County High School, the 2 girls were from the neighboring county. It
was then that the schools did not need to show up sad or scary videos
anymore to scare or warn us, because now it was real life.

When I was a junior in high school, I participated in my schools
arrive alive for prom challenge. For this the seniors dress up in
prom outfits with fake blood laid out across old crashed cars. The
juniors are the EMTs. I rode out and we pulled students out of cars,
across glass, laid blankets on those that didn’t make it, pulled
off wedged doors with students stuck inside, and dealt with the ones
who were conscious and going crazy. The school comes out to watch as
we go through this scenario. Then officers bring the drunk goggles
and have you drive through an obstacle course on a golf cart with the
goggles on. The school warns you and the warning got through to me.
This showed the effects of a good night gone bad due to driving under
the influence, which can be more common on prom nights.

When I was 15, I was going through drivers ed. There was one day
after church I asked mom if I could drive on the way to meeting my
grandparents for lunch. Originally, she said yes until church ran
late and she said no because she did not want me to rush on the road.
On the way there we were rear ended. The guy hit us so hard it
bounced back and hit us again. All I remember is the jolting feeling
and everything flying around me. My youngest brother starts crying in
the back and he crawls into my lap. Ironically, there was an
ambulance at the stop light just across from us and they rushed over.
The kid was just about a few months older than me. He was going 70
miles per hour when he hit us, and he did not even have time to hit
the brakes while he was busy looking at his phone at the wheel. All I
could think was that I could have been the one driving in that moment
and I was terrified.

These experiences scared me to a point where I was scared to even
practice driving and get my license. I was the last in my friend
group to get my license due to this fear. After awhile and a lot of
practice I learned that it was being educated about how to drive and
what to do that was the real key. Everyone is at risk of being in a
car accident, and it is not always our fault because there are
hundreds of other people on the road with the same risk and ability.
The best way to prevent an accident from occurring is being well
practiced, educated, and always aware of your surroundings.