Defensive Driving

Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do on a daily basis. Everytime you get behind the wheel your safety is not guaranteed, that is why driver safety and education is so important. I feel that the importance of drivers safety has been overlooked by most people because driving is just another thing you do in your day to day life but when you are zooming down the road 60 miles per hour in a hunk of metal surrounded by other hunks of metal going 60 miles per hour, you have to be safe and aware.

A super important step to take to reduce the number of driving related deaths would be to constantly be aware of your surroundings, even when you are driving somewhere you drive everyday. I live in a small town in South Carolina that consists mainly of backroads and I would be lying if I said they weren’t fun to drive around on with the windows down and the music up. However, this alone creates distractions for the driver. That’s why I try to drive with mellow music turned down low enough for me to be able to think. Whenever my friends drive me around I always clutch the sides of my seat because they whip around the backroads much faster than the speed limit because they drive the road daily. Driving can still be fun without putting your safety at risk.

Another important step to reducing the number of driving related deaths would be to not rely on the people around you to follow the rules of the road and keeping defensive and vigilant on the road. My moms always says, “I am not worried about your driving, I’m worried about the people around you driving” because you cannot control how other people drive and it is your job to make sure you are aware of their driving and what they are doing. This would mean constantly checking your mirrors and not letting distractions like your phone or billboards take your attention from the road.

I have never personally been in a car accident besides when I backed my moms car into a tree in our driveway but that was mostly just embarrassing. One of my best friends of many years got in a horrible accident almost three years ago two days after she got her license that kept her from getting behind the wheel for years. She was coming to pick me up before work and didn’t yield for a car when turning left. When I didn’t hear from her my mom offered to drive me to work and I remember the freezing fear that struck me when we drove past her car flipped over in the middle of a main intersection. Thankfully she and the other driver weren’t hurt badly but they had to pull my friend out of the car because it fell on the driver’s side. She used to tell me that when she tried to sleep she would smell the burnt rubber and would relive the impact over and over. Since then she has started driving again and hasn’t been in an accident since because she learned the hard way about the dangers of reckless driving.

Steps that I can take to be a better and safer driver would be to control my road rage and to be assertive and sure of all my actions on the road. Road rage is something that I know I will experience, however what is important is my response to the rage. Do I honk my horn and cause a distraction because a car isn’t turning fast enough? Or do I take a deep breath and wait patiently? The answer seems obvious outside of the car however behind the wheel it might be your knee jerk reaction to let the person know they are frustrating you. Your horn should be used for emergencies only, to let someone know they are creating danger on the road. I remember the first and only time I have ever honked my horn. I was driving on the interstate in bumper to bumper traffic and a car tried changing lanes with my car right in their blind spot. I honked because I thought they either didn’t check their blind spots or just didn’t see my car but as soon as I honked my horn they swerved back into their lane and waited for me to pass before changing lanes behind me. If I hadn’t honked my horn I would have hit them and the cars behind us wouldn’t have had enough time to react before crashing into us from behind.