Driving Home the Point

I don’t remember the crash itself.

I remember the moments before, when I put a new CD into the player, as my best friend and the driver of our vehicle started braking in response to the red light at the upcoming intersection. I remember thinking, “Wow, it seems like we’re getting kinda close to that red car.”

I remember the moment after. My best friend started hyperventilating. The car we had rear-ended pulled off the road and into a nearby parking lot. I asked if our car would move so we weren’t in the middle of the street. I called my mom, asking what we should do.

No one was hurt. The red car we collided with sustained hardly any damage. My friend’s car was pretty much totaled, though. All in all, we were very lucky. It was more inconvenience than catastrophe.

The very nice police officer who came to handle the situation reassured my friend that it wasn’t her fault, the roads were slick from the rain. We hypothesized later that the brakes had malfunctioned. “I was pressing down so hard on the brakes, but we just weren’t slowing down,” my friend told me. My dad confided in me later, “I noticed the other day that the tires on that car were getting a little worn, too.” My friend and I had done nothing wrong. An unfortunate set of circumstances that led to an unfortunate outcome. But it could have been so much worse if not for the drivers’ education that is mandatory in our state.Drivers’ education is vital for creating safe driving habits in new drivers. Learning the rules of the road, how to handle any problems that may arise while driving, and putting it into practice with a professional’s supervision are all critical parts of drivers’ education courses. If drivers don’t know how to handle common situations such as who has the right-of-way, it is exceedingly likely that there would be an uptick in the amount of crashes and fatalities that result from driving.

By its very nature, driving is something that happens quickly. The situation changes even more quickly than the location. That means it is critical to be able to evaluate what is happening and what you need to do in response almost instantaneously. That is where the skills we learn in drivers’ education come into play. When there is no time to think, we need to have the answers ingrained in our memory so deeply that our reaction is instinctual. By giving us that kind of key information early in our driving career, drivers’ education prepares us for the moment that we don’t have time to think about what the safest thing to do is. And so we are able to just do it.Drivers’ education isn’t the only way to reduce the dangers inherent to driving. Proper road maintenance and clear signage are also important ways to increase driving safety. Things like potholes and faded road paint can be extraordinarily dangerous to drivers. Potholes can pop tires, wear down the suspension, or even throw cars off course. When road paint is too faded to see, drivers may have trouble recognizing where on the road they are supposed to be. That is a big part of what makes road maintenance so important to safe driving, and why even though infrastructure can seem boring, it is vital to support any local laws that aim to address the maintenance of our roads. Clear signage, like road paint, is necessary to direct drivers on what to do and how to get to where they’re going. If a highway exit, for example, is not clearly marked well in advance, there may be an increase in crashes as drivers struggle to get to their exit before they drive past it. Or if there is no speed limit sign in a school zone, there is a much higher chance that a child walking home could be struck by a speeding car.

Those actions, however, all generally occur on a level higher than that of the individual. What steps can we take, as individual drivers, to make the roads safer for ourselves and other drivers? One very important, and very easy, thing we can do is not use cell phones while driving. Whatever is happening can wait until you either arrive at your destination or find a safe place to stop and check it. Another precaution we can take is to not drive while drunk or high. This may take a little advance planning, but it is a whole lot safer for everyone when every driver on the road has their full mental faculties intact while driving. One other thing I always make sure to do before I drive somewhere is ensure that I know exactly where I am going, and exactly how I am going to get there. I find that having a game plan in mind before I even get in the car makes the entire experience a lot less stressful, and therefore a lot easier and safer for everyone involved.

Driving is a dangerous, yet often necessary, activity. So it is vital that we– as a society, and as individuals– do everything in our power to minimize the danger by every means possible. Drive safe!