From Peru to Home

“Reckless driving” by Lizzy McAlpine… as the chorus reached its crescendo, my anxieties followed suit as my cousin drove us nearly one hundred miles per hour down the highway. From the moment he asked if I had my seatbelt on, I expected the worst to come; at least he had the decency to care about a seatbelt. Ever since, whenever it was my turn to drive, I couldn’t stop the clambering of my heart as the song whispered the promise of an accident waiting to happen.

Granted, my worst experience happened about a year earlier on a trip to Peru where the only driving law was going as fast as possible while having a cross of Jesus hanging from the rearview mirror for good luck. I vividly remember the scratch of the pavement on my lips as I knelt down to kiss the safety of asphalt supporting the ground beneath my feet. Soon after, when I was very much in the hotel and away from the streets, I texted my mom to ignore the previous message where I wrote my will.

Both of these experiences nestled in my mind and resurfaced whenever I felt the taunting leather of the wheel on the palm of my clammy hands, never gripping hard enough- as if the harder I held at ten and two would decrease my chances of getting into an accident.

The first time I drove, I received the rightfully earned cacophony of honks for going twenty miles per hour on a road where the speed limit was forty miles per hour. It took me nearly a year of practice to slowly work myself up to being slightly comfortable behind the wheel… just for school to halt my progress for a month at a time, until I drove home with my dad as my copilot.

But, unluckily enough, this meant that driving from college back to my home would mean I’d be practicing on the highway for most of thirty minutes.

In which, I’ve experienced a slew of malpractices that would give any cop a run for their ticket quotas. From generic lack of utilizing turn signals to annoying tailgating, all of which happen numerous times on I-84.

Needless to say, from all the illegalities I’ve witnessed, the ones that irk me the most are accidents on campus. On top of their devastation and families affected, these give frustrating implications: in order to even be considered for a parking space, one has to have a required amount of class credits. Furthermore, they have to pay approximately one hundred dollars in order to reserve the right to use a parking spot on campus. Which leads me to believe that some students with this privilege are abusing the right to having a license and a car, thus putting the safety of campus in jeopardy.

As for the students that cross the street whenever they feel fit (another problem), to that I argue that the driver is the one responsible for taking this into account and following the twenty-five miles per hour speed limit. Which is rarely followed as the day turns dark and in the midst of trying to study, all I hear is a car clearly burning rubber in spite of 10pm quiet hours.

As irritating and stressful driving can be, I’m grateful for the few moments when my hands loosen, my back finally leans on the seat, the road opens up without a car in front of or behind me, and the trees coalesce with the sky as the wind gently comforts me with a refreshing breeze, convincing me to breathe and let go of my pitiful held breath. I’m reminded that I’m not the only driver who thinks of their family and the life they have as I pass by cars with faces I’ll never see outside of flashes of color in my peripheral.

It was the same feeling I got when I went into my best friend’s car, afraid of a fatal accident, but later surprising myself by feeling comfortable enough to nearly fall asleep in the backseat. I thought to myself, “If I were the only driver I trusted, why drive at all? Why would I continue to get into my dad’s car or my friend’s car or any vehicle at all, in that case?” Of course, location and trust vary from time to time and from person to person, all variables to consider in terms of safely entering a vehicle, but in the end I know I’m not the only conscious driver.

This all being said to emphasize that the best way to combat driving fatalities is to educate and walk through the consequences of driving under influence, being distracted, emotionally incapable, or on a phone. Three of which I’ve experienced and I’m thankful that I’ve never gotten into a car with a drunk driver. Yet, it’s frightening that these four things can result in the same tragic ending of an accident with potential lives lost due to irresponsibility.

As much of a visceral reaction “Reckless Driving” gives me whenever I start the engines of my car, it’s the very principle of being afraid of a driving incident that should encourage every driver to do what they can to prevent them from happening.