Drive Safe, Someone Loves You

Imagine you are coming home from your grandmother’s house. After a long day, you decide to surprise your family by bringing home dinner. So, instead of staying in the middle lane, which is the lane you would take to get home, you decide to pull into the turn lane to head towards the restaurant. Then, as soon as you pull into the turn lane, a car comes barreling through the middle lane – the lane you were just in. It, then, crashes into two cars in front of it, causing the entire pile up to slide into the busy intersection. All of the sudden, it started raining in the middle of July, yet there was not a single rain cloud in the sky – it was raining glass from the lane over. Once the glass storm settled, many witness jump out of their own vehicles to check on the victims of the crash. The first car – two young men. They managed to get out unscathed besides for the whiplash, cuts, and overall trauma caused by distracted driving. The middle car – a family of four, including two young children. Their doors had to be pried open, due to the crushed state of the car. What was once a moderately large SUV style car, now looked as if it were put through a recycling compress. The driver of the car, the presumed father and husband, made it out with moderate injuries. However, like every good father, he was mainly focused about his wife and two baby girls. The mother in the passenger seat sat hunched over and could not move. Shortly after paramedics arrived, she was laid in a stretcher with a full body brace and taken to the nearest hospital. The two children in the backseat just mere inches and pounds of force away from being completely crushed – the only reason they were not: their protective car seats. However, the children still endured injuries, and the entire family was taken to the hospital. The last car – an inconsiderate man with light injuries. The criminal and the victim all in one. After everyone was in good hands – the paramedics – I could only think one thing “If I would not have decided to get dinner for my family, that would have – should have – been me…” I would have been the one to face the consequences of someone else’s reckless behavior – and it could have taken my life.

Driver’s education is an important aspect of life – whether you will be driving or not. Knowing and understanding basic traffic laws can help save a life. For instance, knowing how to read basic road signs, and understanding their meaning can help lower the number of accidents. Knowing the difference between stop and yield might just be the difference between life and death in some instances. Besides from the basic rules of driving, driver’s education can also teach road etiquette. For example, how to safely pass someone, the distance that should be kept between cars, and how to safely pass through an intersection. Driver’s education not only teaches the laws of driving, but also how to keep you safe while doing it.

However, everyone that is on the road has been through a driver’s education course, yet there are still many accidents, and deaths, due to driving. Distracted driving has become a major issue – and it goes deeper than we think. Everyone knows the basic level of distracted driving – cell phones. Texting, calling, and scrolling all create distractions that pull our attention away from the road. Thus, creating an unsafe and undesirable environment for everyone on the road. However, distracted driving is much more than our cellular devices. Distracted driving can be anything from changing radio stations to family and/or friends. Anything that takes the driver’s attention from the road is a distraction and can cause an accident or death.

Another main reason for accidents and death is intoxication. When you consume drugs and/or alcohol, and then get behind the wheel of a five-thousand-pound missile, horrible things can happen. And this issue is a lot more common than we think. In fact, according to the CDC there are, roughly, one hundred and twenty-seven million cases of drunk driving per year. Although not every drunk driving incident ends in an accident and/or death – enough do. Another form of “driving under the influence” is driving tired. When you are tired, you are just as much of a danger as if you were intoxicated through drugs or alcohol. The potential to hurt yourself or others is insanely high when driving under the influence.

Believe it or not, these are very easy fixes. For instance, we can get rid of distractions. Turn your cell phone off or place it somewhere that you cannot see. That way there will be no temptation to check messages or scroll while you are driving. You can make sure that your music is set to the station you like, or the playlist you want to listen to before you set off for your destination. This will allow for our full attention to be, and remain, on the road for the entirety of the trip.

Instead of driving under the influence, we have many options to make it home safe. We can have a designated driver, someone who does/will not consume any drugs or alcohol to ensure a safe ride home, or we can call a taxi, uber, friend, or family member to take us home. Even if you are not intoxicated through drugs or alcohol, it is still the smart, and right, to call an uber, taxi, friend, or family member if you feel you are too tired to drive. If you have any ounce of doubt within yourself for you, or others around you, to make it home safely, then do the right/smart thing and catch a ride.

Car accidents are a forever rising conflict that effect everyone on the planet. By thinking about our own safety along with others on the road, erasing distractions during our travels, and calling an uber, taxi, friend, or family member when we are intoxicated or tired, we can slow down the rates of car accidents, and the numerous deaths they cause. So, before you get behind the wheel always remember to drive safe – someone loves you.