Whipping and Weaving- How Not to Drive

The last time my family went to the zoo was one and a half years ago. It was early spring in northern Ohio. The sun was shining, but the air was cold and the roads were a bit icy. I packed into the car with my stepmom and my three younger siblings. I could almost feel the backseat buzzing with anticipation. All five of us get on the freeway, trailing behind my dad driving in his work truck.

Here’s the thing about my dad- he’s a horrible driver. If you made a checklist of everything you shouldn’t do while driving he’d check every box. I love him, but I will not ride in a car with him for my own safety. And here’s the thing about his work truck- it’s falling apart. It’s not reliable, and the tires are almost completely bare. Like most teen drivers who are lucky enough to have their own car, my car isn’t exactly a Lamborghini. I drive a 2004 Mercury Sable I have affectionately named Gunther. Gunther’s underbelly is made exclusively out of rust and he has no functioning AC. However, my car is still heaps better than my dad’s work truck. So, as I watched him merge onto the freeway in questionable driving conditions, my chest became heavy.

Rush-hour traffic was in full swing, and there we were zipping down the highway. I watched the back of my dad’s truck swing back and forth from lane to lane, sans turn signal, whipping and weaving through traffic as if there were a million-dollar prize for the most dangerous driver. I can tell my stepmom is becoming a bit nervous, then agitated as she follows him. I’m gripping the handle of the car door out of anxiousness. Is he trying to get himself killed? After 5 tortuous minutes of watching this anxiety-inducing scene play out in front of me, I see the back end of his truck slip away from the front, nearly completely entering the next lane before quickly straightening out again. He had hit a patch of ice.

I didn’t have to be in the truck with him that day to know what had caused this recklessness. Superficially, the cause was most likely that his phone had been more interesting to him than the road. However, the underlying cause of the incident, one that is common for a lot of chronically bad drivers, is the idea that it won’t happen to them. I’ve noticed there is this barrier in some people’s heads that creates this “not me” mindset.

“Horrible, lethal car crashes are things that happen to other people, not me.”

“Texting and driving is wrong and dangerous, except when I do it because I have a good reason.”

“Seatbelts save lives, but I don’t need to wear one because I’m not going to crash.”

“I won’t get a DUI, I’m only driving a couple of miles and I’m not even that drunk.”

It doesn’t matter how many facts and statistics about dangerous driving you show someone. It doesn’t matter how many personal stories someone hears about how unsafe driving practices cost someone their family member or their friend. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if that person has had that type of experience themselves. Some drivers will create excuse after excuse on why what they’re doing is justified, even when they know it’s unsafe. So what can we do to make the roads safer?

Preemptively, continually improving the driver’s education system should always be a top priority. Driver’s ed should create informed students and defensive drivers who can safely navigate the roads. Drivers should also be left with a good amount of respect for their vehicle. When you get behind the wheel you are in charge of a two-ton hunk of metal that could easily eviscerate someone’s entire body. A driver that understands that will operate with the caution of someone handling a weapon, because in a way they are.

While a quality driver’s ed program is essential, the only thing we as individuals can do to improve the safety of our streets right now is to be the drivers we want to see on the road. Don’t use your phone while driving under any circumstance. If it’s truly so urgent it can’t wait, pull over. Don’t drive while under the influence of anything, including sleep deprivation. I promise the cost of that uber is less than what you’d pay to fix your car if you crashed. Look twice before you turn. Check your blindspots, always. Speed limits were created for a reason, do not assume you know better than them.

These are things all drivers know, it’s what we’re taught from day one. Yet so many of us do not hold ourselves accountable to them, and that’s the problem. The only way the average citizen can reduce the number of bad drivers out there is to not be one. Take responsibility for yourself to uphold the rules of the road. Don’t drive like my dad.