Moving Towards the Future: Embodying Safe Driving Etiquette

Receiving one’s driver’s license for the first time is the equivalent to infinite possibility for a teenager, or at least for me it was. You can’t help but think: freedom, adventure, joy, life. Although I’ve only had my license for about 4 years, it feels like I’ve had it for an eternity. An eternity brimming with endless, shining, and unforgettable memories, but also crowded with the memory of two yellow lights, car horns and broken glass. What had once given me ultimate freedom as a teenager has now forever scarred me.

It was on a sunny Wednesday afternoon that I experienced my first car accident. I can replay this moment in my head over and over again even up to this day and it has been almost 4 years since my accident. I was driving home alone from my high school volleyball practice down the same path I took almost every single day, but now am deathly afraid to even go near anymore. I would have never thought that this drive home could be my very last moment. My last moment on this planet. My last moment spending time with my family and friends. My last moment living.

Turning left on a red light seemed like a simple, easy, and quick task that I’ve done many times before, but not at this moment. I was taught in driving school that cars must stop at a red light. Everyone knows that cars must stop at a red light. For some reason though, the car that hit me did not stop at the red light. As I slowly drove towards the intersection and began to turn my wheel to the left, all I saw was a speeding car and all I heard were car horns. My mind went blank at that moment. I tried to hit the brakes and turn my car, but it was no use to prevent the incoming collision. Who would know how to react?

The car that struck me was black. I swore at that moment that I would never drive a black car in the future. I didn’t want to associate myself with a car that hurt me in so many ways: physically, emotionally, mentally. I was hit in the front of my car on the passenger’s side. The impact of the collision was so hard that my car spun 180 degrees to the point where I was facing the direction I was coming from in the first place.

It was only a few minutes after the accident that my mom arrived at the scene. When my mom ran up to me with a tear stricken face, I knew nothing else mattered to her except that I was still here. Heart beating, lungs breathing, body shaking, but alive. My mother embracing me at the accident made me realize how important it was that I was safe and sound. It also made me realize the importance of being a safe and careful driver.

Having to deal with the aftermath of a car accident wasn’t easy. I didn’t step into a car much less drive one for a long time. Every time I went near a car, I could replay the accident in my head over and over again. It felt like I was at the accident all over again seeing it happen in front of me. The first few nights after the accident were even worse. It was difficult to sleep. With time, however, I was able to sit in the car with less anxiety and go on drives with my parents or siblings to the grocery store or to run errands. Soon enough, in a couple months, I was able to get my hands on the wheel again. Now, it’s been almost 4 years since the accident. Although it seems like a long time, sometimes it definitely still feels like it happened just yesterday. This accident was definitely life-changing, but I’m glad that I was able to turn it into a learning experience in which I, myself, have become a more aware driver that aims to embrace the concept of being a safe driver.

Being a safe driver starts with thorough driver education. Driver education is important because it teaches potential new drivers lessons that are necessary not only to successfully pass the driving test, but also to guide them in navigating the rules of the road. Driver education teaches you how to mechanically work your vehicle. It helps you practice driving on the road alongside an instructor that will guide you every step of the way, no matter how frightening or new it may be. It gives you the knowledge you need to recognize all different kinds of road signs. There are all sorts of factors that a new driver must be introduced to before getting behind the wheel such as weather, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, and more. Overall, driver education is meant to cover all the information you may need to help you become a confident and responsible driver.

Establishing the importance of driver education will help keep the roads a safe place for all. This includes helping to reduce the number of deaths that result from driving. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), there were a total of 35,766 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2020. Out of those vehicle crashes, there were a total of 38,824 deaths that had occurred (IIHS, 2022). This emphasizes how devastating and deathly car accidents can be. As someone who has been in a car accident before, I know how frightening they can be. We should always keep in mind that when we drive, there are multiple lives at stake. We should be thinking about our loved ones, but also other drivers’ loved ones as well. In order to help protect the lives of current and future drivers and passengers, we must take driver education seriously and respect the rules of the road. Written by Leslie Reed, this idea is supported by a study that followed more than 150,000 teen drivers over eight years that found that driver’s education significantly reduced car accidents and traffic violations among new drivers (2015). It is with this information that we must reiterate the importance of driver education to all individuals and help eliminate as many car accidents as we can.

Driver education doesn’t just stop at receiving your driver’s license. When one goes behind the wheel, I believe that there are endless opportunities to continue learning and improving from. Not only should you be reflecting what you learned in driver education, you should also be promoting safe driving in those around you. Since my car accident, I have found it incredibly important to tell my own family and friends safe driving etiquette. For example, I had to tell my mom to put her phone away whenever I saw her trying to text while driving. This applies for many other situations such as driving while intoxicated, driving over the speed limit, driving without using your turning signals and more. Our role as safe drivers is to also guide others to comply with all established driving rules and create a safer environment for everyone.

I’ve learned that the life of anyone in this world can be taken so easily by a car and to think that I’ve been blessed with another day to live has made me so appreciative of everything around me. It has also made me realize the importance of safe driving and how we must strive to build a strong foundation of safe driving within others, our community, and society as a whole.

Despite having ‘lived’ for 21 years or for 1,101 weeks or for 7,707 days, I know that this one accident—this one life-changing experience—is where I actually learn and begin to LIVE my life with a different meaning. Whenever I step foot into a car, I not only have learned to keep my own life in mind, but also the lives of my loved ones, of others and their loved ones and even the lives of future generations, including my own future family.

Written by: Lauren Dimayuga

Resources:

https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state

https://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2015/08/13/Study:+Driver%27s+ed+significantly+reduces+teen+crashes,+tickets#:~:text=Young%20drivers%20who%20have%20not,an%20accident%2C%20the%20study%20showed.