Driving Unprepared and It’s Consequences

A man in an SUV is frantically speeding to get his pregnant wife to the hospital, changes lanes without checking his blind spot and a fatal accident occurs. The hatchback right behind the SUV in the other lane has no time to swerve out of the way of the heavy car. Two vehicles collide and 4,000 pounds of mass goes barreling off the highway, smashing into a guardrail. Just as a new life can be brought into the world, so can a life be taken away with little to no warning. The human mind is fallible; mistakes are unavoidable. This is why cars have so many safety features; margins of error are critical in an activity as dangerous as driving. Effectively gauging speed while utilizing depth of field, coordinating hand and foot motion while making sure peripheral vision is clear makes practice essential. It takes months to develop the muscle memory needed to operate a vehicle. But most people don’t practice all the right skills. A common saying is “as long as I get from point A to point B”. We tend to forget that every moment along our drive home from work is an amalgamation of choices and split second decisions that run on autopilot. When this autopilot switches off, a knowledge deficit can be fatal. Driver’s education is the vital source of this knowledge. Muscle Memory and reflexes have to be practiced and ingrained into our thought processes in order to work rapidly. Time spent on the road without proper education results in underdeveloped defensive skills and a driver who is ill-prepared to deal with the unpredictable public. Moments of panic, freezing up, and being unable to react can be avoided. Driver’s Education prepares those on the road to make a split second decision, a decision that could save their life.

I made one of the worst decisions of my life while driving. Eastern Pennsylvania experienced horrible flooding in early September 2021. I was coming home from work early in the evening and the rain had been coming down heavily for hours. Wind buffeted the windows and reports of a tornado came over the radio from a nearby town. The main road nearby, a major highway, had closed. ‘‘I’ll go the back way,’’ I thought. Not my brightest moment. I proceeded to take my Honda CRV through winding rural roads completely covered in water. Sticks and debris covered the road, nearly invisible in the torrential floods pouring across the pavement. I should have known to turn around but I pressed on believing my four-wheeled drive and intestinal fortitude would get me home. It wasn’t until I went through a low valley nearly three and a half feet underwater that I got scared. Water shot up over my windshield and all I could see were waves. My foot was to the floor and I could hear my engine struggling. I had picked a fight with the elements and was almost swept away. I made it through….somehow. Many of the roads I had taken were completely washed away, requiring months of construction afterwards. Given a few more hours I might have been fully doomed. I learned the hard way that night, proceeding with false confidence and poor decision making skills. Advocating for public education on emergency driving and harsh weather conditions can help reduce the harm that comes from the kind of stupidity I exhibited. Teaching drivers that ground clearance and four-wheel drive doesn’t mean they’re safe is key. I had to learn the hard (and soaked) way. With the right education and push for training, other drivers shouldn’t have to go through the same ordeal.

Distractions on the road are more prevalent than we realize. The advent of the fast food restaurant has allowed Americans to chow down on burritos or burgers while driving. The saying “both hands on the wheel” is quickly forgotten. How many times do we hear “I was reaching for my coffee” when someone flattens a stop sign? It’s normal to talk on the phone, grab a piece of gum, and pass people going 70 all at the same time. Normalcy doesn’t equate to safety, however. Driving always requires full attention. Recently in the news we saw two Pennsylvania State Troopers and a pedestrian killed by a young woman who bragged on Twitter that she was a great drunk driver. The general attitude of the public is one of irreverence and lack of respect for the dangerous potential of motor vehicles. I believe we each have a responsibility to help change this attitude. If a conversation gets too loud and threatens to pull the driver’s attention away from the road, remind everyone that they need to be able to focus. Assign and reinforce a designated driver, and never let yourself or your friends compromise when it comes to driving impaired. Speed limits exist for a reason and a friendly comment to a driver going as little as 5 mph over could help reduce risk. It’s the little things, our day to day mindless habits, that can cause deadly accidents. Let’s all do our part and help make the roads a safer place.