The accident that changed it all

Many people neglect and underestimate the importance of driver education. I, too, did not understand the benefit in my driver’s education course when I was 15 years old. I watched the videos and answered the questions easily. As I’ve become older and needed to drive more, I’ve seen that expertise put to good use. Following the devastation of Hurricane Ian, several streetlights in my small town of Daytona Beach were out of service. I knew from driver’s ed that when a light goes out, you treat it like a stop sign. Driving about my community during the next few weeks, I discovered that many people had not learned this important guideline. Several people ran through these crossroads, and many times an accident was narrowly avoided.

I’ve seen firsthand how catastrophic an accident can be. My younger sister was involved in an accident last year. A careless driver failed to look before merging lanes. I recall getting the phone call like it was yesterday. When my mother called, I knew something was wrong. I overheard loud noises in the distance, which turned out to be sirens. I could hear so many voices in the background while my mind raced at thousands of miles per hour, trying to piece together a puzzle with a positive outcome while persuading myself not to panic. She finally spoke and said, “Lana’s been in a car accident.” She uttered it in the softest and most quiet tone I have ever heard, as if speaking to a sleeping baby. I know it was because she was trying to comfort me, but her tone just made it worse. Luckily, the driver of the car my sister was in was able to swerve out of the way slightly, but the car was still hit. My sister was unlucky; she was sitting on the side of the car where they were hit. This phone call changed my life forever. The incident comes back to me every time I drive or travel as a passenger in a car. My sister survived, but she still struggles to be in a car without feeling anxious. To think that all of this might have been avoidable if he had just taken a few extra seconds to check his blind spot.

We need to create a change, and you can start by improving yourself. When you’re behind the wheel, you can take your time following the regulations of the road. Some situations include fully stopping at a stop sign, checking your blind spot, and driving the speed limit. As I started driving, my father constantly told me, “You’d rather go the speed limit and be a few minutes late than speed and get pulled over or in an accident and never get there.”  This is another thought that comes to mind every time I drive. Before learning to drive, I believe everyone should have this kind of information. I try to remind the driver of this saying as a passenger. Several of my friends are fast drivers. I try my hardest to encourage them to leave sooner in hopes of maintaining our safety and avoiding irresponsible driving. We could have significantly safer roads if more people focused on driving safely rather than driving fast. I want to help individuals become safer drivers now because it shouldn’t take a family member getting in a car acident to make you drive more cautiously. The best method I can think of to help people driver safely is to raise awareness. Sharing facts, demonstrating safe driving skills, and educating others on disregarded traffic rules are all excellent ways to raise awareness.

Though all of those are important for improving current drivers’ actions, I feel that the best strategy to prevent deaths caused by vehicle accidents is to require driver’s education. Many students discover ways to avoid taking driver’s education. Rather than attempting to fix bad conduct, I believe it should be required and enforced to generate safe drivers from the start. Most parents are not the greatest people to teach their children how to drive since they exhibit some negative characteristics. If we can get all new drivers to be taught by specialists, we can put them on the right track.

If you only remember one thing from this essay, I hope it is that great quote by my father. “You’d rather drive the speed limit and be a few minutes late than drive fast and get pulled over or in an accident and never get there.” This can be used in a variety of ways if you change the wording slightly. My new quote is  “You would rather drive more safely and be a few minutes late than drive recklessly and get pulled over or in an accident and never get there,”  I believe it is critical to educate new and experienced drivers that arriving alive is always the most important thing.