Driving is like a Deadly Weapon

In a blink of an eye, before a full breath of air can be inhaled, life flashes before your eyes and suddenly you don’t know what has just happened. There’s a blurred vision in your mind of something that you just experienced and never imagined happening to you. Many of us live in the mindset that bad things such as a car accident won’t happen to us until it happens not once, but twice. A driver in their car is like someone handling a deadly weapon. Choices are made and one bad move can change everything. Just like someone making the choice in pulling the trigger, then suddenly there’s someone hurt by a lost bullet. A driver in their car has this kind of extreme power, capable of causing such harm.

Remembering driving by the intersection near my home and seeing a scene that you just can’t look away from. Flashing lights of police cars and ambulances. Multiple cars crashed, broken glass all over the ground, and traffic stopped everywhere. Hoping that whoever it is, is alright and then suddenly being hit by the horrific realization that it’s not only someone you know who is involved in that car accident but it is your own blood; my sister. This was the first and only time I saw a loved one involved in such a bad car accident but it wasn’t my sister’s last.

The driver just ran a red light when suddenly you are struck. The drunk driver gets in their car, going at full speed and strikes you. These are both true events that happened to my older sister a couple of years ago. She was involved in multiple car accidents one year after the other. Both of which she was not at fault, but just happened to be the one who was struck by the “lost bullet”. The driver made the choice to put others in danger. In a blink of an eye, as she lost control, her car spun and she felt as if her life flashed before her eyes. When the car came to a halt after crashing into another car, she described the feeling of confusion and not knowing what had just happened. By a miracle of God, my sister Sandra survived both car accidents and did not suffer any major injuries. Although, up to this day she is still trying to get over the psychological trauma that these horrific events have caused her. She is brave enough to still get in her car and drive to work every day but the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that this has left her with, prevents her from being the person she was before experiencing these terrible car accidents.

Learning to drive a car is like learning to use a deadly weapon, you have to learn the do’s and don’ts to prevent an accident from occurring and handle each with extreme caution and care. When you obtain the proper driver’s education, you’re not only preparing yourself to be a safe and responsible driver but also practicing to be alert and defensive in your driving. It will help serve as a guide when it comes to actually being behind the wheel. We can be the ones driving safely but it’s sometimes others who we need to watch out for. Reading, studying, learning, and putting into practice what is obtained from driver’s education puts the driver up for success on the road. This is very important and a necessity which will hopefully help aid in reducing the number of deaths in driving.

There are a lot of young drivers who are driving out on the road every day. Some may have little to no experience and others with no care in the world as to what their actions may be when they choose to get behind the wheel. It’s true, how will they gain that experience unless they are allowed to actually go through the experience of driving? Although, there’s a difference between gaining that experience on the road and gaining the knowledge needed to be on the road. First, one must get educated, take the proper training to learn how to drive and maneuver a car. Studying the rules of driving before taking the wheel and putting not only your life but others life in danger. Truly understanding that driving is not a game and is to be taken seriously. Just because a permit and license is obtained doesn’t automatically make oneself a good driver. Being considerate, cautious, and aware of the responsibility one has as a driver and following not only the rules of driving but the law will make a safe driver.

There is always room to grow as a driver by continuing to learn and getting educated because even adults make mistakes and wrong choices. There are consequences when bad choices are made so it’s better to think before we act and remember that life is fragile. Driving is not always easy but making safe choices every day reduces the risk of putting your life at stake and helps prevent car accidents that can take innocent lives. After all, there is no going back once a trigger of a deadly weapon is pulled. There is no going back once a driver of the vehicle has caused damage.