The Cost of Reckless Driving

Picture this: a man hops into his car after a few drinks; he believes that he can safely drive. He leaves and goes through a red light; it’s late, so who else will be out driving. To his surprise, there is someone driving and he t-bones her vehicle. The driver in the other vehicle didn’t wear her seatbelt, so she went through the windshield. Hours later, she dies in the hospital. This sounds like a horrific story; however, this isn’t just some story. This was a run-down of the events that ended my aunt Monica’s life just months before I was born. My mother had to mourn the death of her sister while carrying me. My sister had to say goodbye to her aunt that she had bonded so closely with. I never had the opportunity to meet her, yet I received her first name as my middle name. We all have to carry this burden through our lives. If one action had changed, she might still be alive today. This is why driver’s education is so important.

Driver’s education has such a vast impact on today’s society; however, such an impact can only take place if people reach out and receive it. It is a method to learn not only what to do while driving but also why we should take certain actions. Let’s be honest, if you try to tell someone, especially a teenager, not to do something, they will only want to do it more. Education curriculums make the dangers of driving more real. They reference real-life scenarios that reframe people’s minds. For example, when I was in driver’s education, I learned about brain damage that can result from a car crash such as TBIs; car accidents are one of the leading causes of such injury. In addition to this, it’s common to break bones of the leg, arm, wrist, and ribs. Of course, the severity of such breaks can only be determined by the situation of the accident itself (the two vehicles involved in the accident as well as the speed that the vehicles are going and the surrounding conditions). These are non-lethal examples of injuries; however, they can lodge a major wrench into someone’s life. For example, a severe injury can prevent someone from being able to work, which could have adverse effects on both the injured person as well as his/her family. These don’t even account for lethal injuries such as blunt force trauma to the head, injury to the neck, penetrating wounds to the chest and/or abdomen, burns (which can be fatal even if a large region of the body is covered in first degree burns), internal bleeding, spinal cord injury, and many more. These are just a few of many possibilities that can occur when people drive recklessly.

Personally, I have experienced being in a car accident. In my freshman year of high school, my sister (a high school senior at the time) was driving me home when a freshman rammed his truck into my sister’s Honda Civic. One second, I was talking about my Geometry test. Next, the car stopped and the side curtain airbag was on my right cheek. My high school’s parking lot is always hectic and dangerous. If more people participated in driver’s education and truly absorbed the importance of each action that is taught, there would be a great decrease in accidents, especially in the parking lot of a school full of new drivers. Taking steps such as wearing your seatbelt, not driving under the influence, driving on or below the speed limit, utilizing turn signals, and following stop signs and stop lights would change the outcome of many people’s lives.

If the man that hit my aunt’s vehicle would’ve called for a friend or taxi to pick him up, my aunt may still be alive. If that man would’ve stopped at the red light, my aunt may still be alive. If my aunt would have worn her seatbelt, she may still be alive. Despite all of this, what’s done is done. There will be no taking back what happened, and I will never meet my aunt Monica. This is a tragedy that each member of my family has to live with. So, every time I enter my vehicle, I buckle up, drive on or below the speed limit, and I follow all laws. Driver’s education has prepared me to do this. We can stop these tragedies if the law is taken seriously. Driver’s education has already saved many lives, and it has the ability to change the course of many more.