Look Twice and Think Twice to Save a Life

Picture this- you are driving down a two lane road on a clear, sunny day. You were just released from a stressful day at work and looked forward to going home to kick your feet up after a long day. When approaching the stop light at the intersection approximately three blocks from your house, a reckless driver makes a split second decision to cross traffic without looking and collides into the front of your vehicle at a high rate of speed. Within seconds, the idea of kicking your feet up and relaxing leaves your mind and is replaced with anger and rage. How could someone be so careless and reckless? Doesn’t this person value the safety of others or their own safety? Unfortunately for you, neither of those things matter as you stare at your totaled vehicle and the sight of emergency lights approaching your accident site.

My name is Veronica Barnhill- a 23 year old from a rural town in Indiana. Accidents rarely happen in my hometown, but when they do they are pretty severe. The day of my accident, I was exceptionally lucky to walk away with only a few muscle tears in my right knee from colliding with the dashboard. Many people are not nearly this lucky and end up losing their lives to the hands of reckless driving. Educating new (and old) drivers on the importance of making safe driving decisions has the ability to lower the amount of vehicle related deaths and injuries.

There are many programs that new drivers can enroll in such as the typical Driver’s Education through their local license branch, however, it seems that the driver education stops there. A glance at the driving manual and a few tests simply aren’t enough to ensure that the person will become a safe driver after their exams are over. The traditional Driver’s Education classes aren’t even mandatory in most places. In Indiana, for example, Driver’s Education classes are seen as optional and a privilege to be enrolled in. The steep price of $300+ deters parents from enrolling their students and can result in the creation of an unsafe driver. Without Driver’s Education courses, driving students can only drive with a relative over the age of twenty-six. This person may not even have a safe driving record themselves! At least with Driver’s Education, students are paired with an experienced driving instructor to teach them the rights and the wrongs of the roadway.

In the grand scheme of the roadway, unfortunately both “at-home-driving-school” and Driver’s Education become meaningless once a license has been awarded. The young driver will not have to renew their license until their twenty-first birthday and when they do, they will not even be required to retest their driving knowledge. In life, the building of new knowledge is constantly tested. For example, we learn how to use money in our early lives and continue to build on this basic skill nearly everyday with multiple mini-tests such as paying for items at the grocery store or even paying bills- shouldn’t driving be the same way? It is my belief that if drivers were tested more frequently on the rules of the road that they would be more conscious of their driving habits thus making them drive safer.

Personally, being a safe driver is always on the agenda. Since my accident, I have been much more aware of those surrounding me on the road. It would be unfair of me to make similar split second decisions such as the one that affected my life so heavily. My car accident cost me almost two months of income, two full months of physical therapy, and dozens of visits to the Orthopedic Surgeon. As I previously mentioned, I am one of the lucky ones. I was barely injured during my car accident and still endured months of struggle. After hearing of my accident, all of my immediate family members and friends started to drive more cautiously. The thought of losing their precious time, or even their life, due to an accident on the roadway was enough to scare them into being safe. For those that do not fear getting into a car wreck, my advice is always to look twice and think twice. Look twice before you drive your car into an intersection, parking lot, or anywhere, for that matter. Think twice before making a split second decision that could cause harm to you or another person on the road. It is my hope that one day safe driving will be the new trend and everyone will hop on board, but until then, I will continue to shamelessly plug my new favorite motto: look twice and think twice to save a life.