The Power of the Wheel

My sophomore year of high school I came home from winning a state cheerleading competition, an on-top-of-the-world feeling that would end the following morning when a family friend called to tell my parents that their daughter, whose team I had competed against less that twelve hours earlier, had died in a drunk driving accident earlier the night before. She was fifteen years old and will forever only be fifteen years old.

In the United States, many kids can drive a vehicle before than can legally purchase and consume alcohol, but that does not mean that kids wait to drink legally. Instead of being able to understand the effects of alcohol consumption on the body before having the capability of legally driving, the roles are reversed, leading to misjudgment of driving skills while under the influence. Driver education on the influence of alcohol while driving is critical to reducing the number of deaths as a result of getting behind the wheel inebriated. Much like how teaching abstinence based sexual education will not prevent teenage pregnancies, saying that driving impaired has the possibility to kill others does not prevent drivers of all ages from driving impaired. Instead, one step that can be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is having students see instances of simulated drunk drivers, educating driving students on signs to look out for when impairing substances may be involved in an environment with motor vehicles. The ability to drive comes with many powers, one of those powers being the ability to take lives away when applied irresponsibly.

Five months ago, I was involved in my first car accident as a driver. Five years of driving with not even as much as a speeding ticket, and all it took was seconds of a driver not paying attention. I was driving through an intersection with a green light in my direction of traffic when suddenly a truck was in front of my car. I hit the truck, and it spun out into a field hitting two other cars in its path, a path that ultimately led to a field nearby and destroy sidewalks and landscaping on its way. Everyone involved in the accident walked away (from the hospital the same day), but my car was totaled. All persons involved were sober, but it goes to show that accidents do happen. Often, I imagine how that situational nightmare could have played out if one of the drivers was impaired, going a few miles per hour faster, or if I had gone through the green light a few seconds sooner; I would have been crushed by the sheer force of the collision of a truck twice the height of my car hitting my driver’s side door. The worst part of my accident, the whole collision could have been avoided if I looked to my left before going through the light. My nightmare is the reality for thousands of people each year who die as a result of driving.

You may be asking yourself, so what can I do now to be a better driver? Take driving seriously, not as a luxury or a right, but as a commitment to pay attention and have open dialogue with others on the road, or even those near the road. As much as it may pain you, use your blinker every chance you get, you never know if those few seconds of flashing can alert another vehicle and change their driving path that may avoid an accident. Put down your phone, the messages will still be there when you arrive safely to your destination, and the song you are so bent on listening to will not disappear in the time it takes you to get to your destination or pull over to safely change it. Always listen to the driver, as they quite literally control your fate while being contained in a metal can hurling itself against gravity, and they should be cautiously analyzing the environment of the road. Finally, never be afraid to say no. If you suspect that the person driving may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or even in an emotionally vulnerable place to make irrational decisions, have the confidence to say no and find another way to your destination. Leading by example is one of the most influential actions you can take towards helping others be safer on the road.

Whether a new driver or a seasoned driver, nobody is immune from deaths as a result of driving, so education must continually advance as motor vehicle technology advances, and a flexible mindset while driving can save lives. A car is replaceable, but a person is not.