My Father is Spleen-less Because of Drunk Driving

My father was a victim of a drunk driving accident. He went out drinking with his friends, a normal occurrence for men his age. My father’s friend had a brand new car and did not trust anybody to drive it but him. My father’s friend believed if anybody else drove it, they would crash his car. So, after going out with his friends, my father’s friend offered to drive my father and his friends back home. The only issue with this was my father’s friend was extremely drunk. My father thought nothing of it however, he just wanted to go home.

So there my father was, sitting in the back seat of his friend’s car while he drove them home. He thought it was just going to be a normal night out with his friends. It was late at night, early morning, so my father slowly dozed off to sleep in the back seat. When my father woke up, he was almost split in half.

His friend was going 80 miles per hour in a 40 miles per hour zone, and not surprisingly, he crashed his car. This accident happened when seat belts only had the bottom part that went on your pelvis, not the shoulder strap. The impact caused my dad to fall so far forward, the belt cut through his abdomen. My father mainly kept his eyes closed the whole time, but he was conscious during most of what happened after. My father describes it as a TV flashing on and off. First, he heard his friends panicking, saying “Mitchell’s hurt! Call an ambulance!” Flash to black. After that, he felt the hard pavement under him, and heard sirens in the distance. He felt something warm under him, his blood. Flash to black. Then, he felt frigid, and felt he was moving. He was in the back of an ambulance. They were trying to keep my father alive while transporting him to the hospital. He was losing a lot of blood. Flash to black. He awoke in a hospital after surgery. The doctors operated on him for hours, and my father died twice on the operating table. However, my father is a fighter, and he fought and he fought and they brought him back. Eventually, the surgeon had to remove his spleen, but my father was okay. He was alive, and that is all that matters. My father was lucky and it is a miracle he is alive. A lot of people are not that lucky, however.

Hearing how I could have lost my dad and I could have never been born makes me realize how important driving education is. Back then, driving education was very scarce and it was not a requirement. As long as you could pass a test, you could drive on the road and go anywhere you wanted to. When you are driving, you are driving a literal death vehicle. The thought that I could be doing everything right but another person’s incompetency could cost me my life is frightening. When you are on the road, everybody on the road is trusting you with their life. If someone is improperly educated about driving, they could kill someone. My father’s friend was obviously misguided and chose to do the one thing everyone knows you are not supposed to do when driving. Back then, driving school was not a necessity, and you now see what that led to.

There should be no debate that driving education should be a necessary thing. Driving school is crucial in understanding traffic laws and safe driving practices. Driving school could inform you on good decision making and promote safe driving habits. Uneducated driving results in death. Driving school should be a requirement. Though it is pricey, it’s an important investment. Pay $400 now and you will not have to pay $40,000 in legal fees and medical bills because you hit somebody.

Though my example is outdated, my point still stands. I had a friend who failed their permit test 4 times. Can you imagine what would have happened if there was no permit test and they went straight to driving? I would fear for my safety knowing that you do not have to be educated to drive. With driving school being a requirement, I feel safer on the road. There are a lot of idiots on the road, of course. There will always be idiots on the road. However, there are less idiots now than when you could just get your license and drive at ease. Nobody wants to spend a pretty penny on driving education, especially in this economy, but it is one’s civil duty to get educated so they keep everyone on the road at least a little safer.