Reinstated Knowledge of the Driver’s Seat

I woke up in a panic. Instead of hitting ‘snooze’ on my alarm clock, I had accidentally pressed ‘dismissed’ and proceeded to fall back asleep. I was in charge of taking my sister and myself to school and there I was doing a very poor job about it. It was mid-February with at least a good 3 inches of snow on the ground and we lived in the back-country of southern Idaho. Unless you had kind farmers as your neighbors, the back-roads rarely were snow-plowed and to get to the outskirts of town was at least 20 minutes when road conditions were clear. I sighed seeing the time; there was a chance we could make it to our 9:30am class on time, but it would be pushing it. I woke up my sister, quickly got ready to leave.

I should clarify that I was a newer driver, and in the midst of the adrenaline knowing I might not make it to class on time, I failed to turn on the four-wheel drive. We fastened our seat belts and I carefully left the driveway. The thought kept coming to me as I was driving that I should pull over and wait the few extra minutes for the four-wheel drive to activate, but I dismissed it when I saw the time on the dashboard. Class started in 10 minutes and we still had another 20 minute drive as I was only going 30 miles an hour instead of the 50 the signs kept saying. We arrived at a bridge where the speed limit went decreased to 40 miles but I refused to go any slower than 30. There were no car tracks here. No tracks of anything, actually. Everyone else who happened to be out and about in this snowy morning planned accordingly, to not only leave earlier for their destinations, but to avoid the bridge. I thought that was funny, especially as it was the quickest way to go into town. Again, the thought to pull over and turn on four-wheel drive alarmed in my head and I quickly dismissed it; moments later I wished I hadn’t.

The back end of the car started swinging us to the right where a concrete barrier maybe only 3 feet high was placed to keep from immediately falling into the freezing, thrashing, dark waters below. We crashed into the barrier screaming, but we didn’t stop moving. Everything people tell you not to do on when your car hits ice is everything I did do. I stomped on the brakes! I turned the steering wheel enough that we stopped sliding to the right, but instead of going straight, we went left! To the left, an old guardrail was barely standing up and to our horror, we went crashing into that too! We spun around and with how slick the ice was, we eventually stopped, faced the way we had just came, high centered on this old railing, teetering a little too much over the edge for our liking. I don’t know who called the police, but an officer was knocking on our window within minutes of the wreck. Crying, I gave him all the paperwork I had and my license too.

“Abbie, call Mom and let her know there’s been an accident and to come get us please.” I passed her my phone and looked back in the rear-view mirror to see what the officer was up to.

“Hey Mom! Yeah there’s been an accident, can you let the school know that we’re going to be late today? Thank you, bye.”

I whipped the phone out of her hands and called mom. “Hi Mom, we’re the accident. Can you come get us please?”

After a good scolding from our mom, a decent speeding ticket from the police officer, and a really good lecture from our father later that evening, I’ve come to learn 2 things to keep in mind from this incident: always be attentive to what’s going on around you and safety supersedes punctuality.

Besides giving pointers on how to operate a vehicle, the importance of driver education in reducing the number of deaths as a result of driving is critical. You have to be attentive about what’s going on around you. You have to finally accept that it’s okay to be late to your next stop. If there’s snow on the ground, there’s probably a good chance that there’s ice too, especially when you drive over a bridge. Slow down, it’s better for you to be late than almost die like my sister and I. You have to be sober to know what is going on around you because when you are under the influence of drugs and alcohol, you’re vaguely aware of what’s happening around you. Again, we want everyone to get home safely and preferably in one piece, so call an Uber or a sober friend to drive you home. It’s better to arrive late into the night or even early the next morning than not arriving at all.

Steps that can be taken to not only reduce the number of deaths related to driving, but also to help you and others become safer drivers on the road is to remember that your safety is of greater importance than your punctuality of getting to your destination as well as being aware of what’s happening around you. These values when operating a vehicle are intertwined with each other. If you’re not aware of what’s going on around you when you’re driving and something happens, the accident could cost you your life. I know people want to be ahead of the traffic or really do have somewhere to be when rush hour arrives, yet hurrying through isn’t going to make anything better. Road rage or panic about getting somewhere at a certain time can arise and quite honestly, anger and panic can limit one’s sense of vision of seeing the bigger picture. You’re only thinking about yourself at that point, missing key elements about your safety and the safety for others as well.

I can’t stress enough how essential it is to be attentive of your surroundings and that your safety is above your punctuality. We’re taught these key elements in drivers education but no one takes these notes seriously unless it’s happened to you or someone you love. Be careful out there; don’t be the accident someone calls your mother about.