What Could Possibly Happen?

Audrey
Tindoll

Driving
Scholarship

March
31, 2020

What
Could Possibly Happen?

Mia
hopped in the driver’s seat of her brand new car. She had just
turned 16 the day before and her parents had surprised her with her
dream car! She was overjoyed and couldn’t believe she now had a new
car, along with newfound freedom. She figured driving wasn’t
difficult, so she didn’t pay much attention to proper driving
safety laws- just made sure she could do enough to get her license.
After thanking her parents, she decided to drive to her friend’s
houses to show off the car.

Mia
and her friends decided to take a spontaneous drive around their
small town just for fun. “What
could possibly happen? It’s just a simple drive around town,” Mia
thought to herself.

Her
friends began to blast music as they rode around. Mia, screaming the
lyrics along with her friends, didn’t notice that she had gone past
the speed limit. She was getting more and more distracted. She
slightly swerved into the adjacent lane for a moment, but corrected
it after a couple seconds, still singing her heart out with her
friends.

As
she continued driving, she focused less and less on the road and more
and more on her friends and the music. As they approached an
intersection, the green light far up ahead suddenly turned yellow.
Mia did not notice. She kept driving and went straight through the
light, which was now red, and was t-boned on the driver’s side by
another car.

Mia’s
vision was blurred and her head hurt. She could tell something was
not right with her left arm, although due to the adrenaline she could
not feel the pain. She turned to look at her friends, and it was not
a pretty sight. Her friend in the passenger seat looked alright with
minor injuries. She noticed that her friend in the backseat behind
the passenger seat had not been wearing her seatbelt and looked like
she had much worse injuries. She could not see the friend sitting
behind her, but judging by the concern of her friend in the passenger
seat, it was not good at all. As she looked around at all this, not
sure of how to respond, she kept thinking of what she had thought to
herself earlier: “What
could possibly happen?”

This
example shows that drivers ed is extremely important and is
a crucial step to making the roads safer. If students in driver’s
education learn the material and know what it means to be a good
driver, they will likely follow these rules and not become a hazard
to themselves and those on the road around them. If someone were to
not follow the rules taught in drivers ed, it increases driving
injuries and fatalities.

Driver’s
education is essential in order to reduce the number of driving
related deaths. There will always be people who drive recklessly no
matter what, but if we educate people, they will know the risk they
are taking and will likely be more careful.

I
have never personally been in a car accident, but I do know one
person who sometimes drives irresponsibly. I, as well as most of my
friends, refuse to ride with her because we know how she drives. We
have told her many times that she needs to drive better, but she just
laughs it off as if her actions sometimes put herself and others in
danger. It’s scary to see someone driving irresponsibly on the
road, so always be cautious and aware while driving to reduce your
risk of being in a wreck.

In
order to be a safe driver, the most important step is to simply obey
the rules of the road. It sounds ridiculously simple, but the neglect
for these rules is why most car accidents happen. Exercise good
driving habits to make driving safer for yourself and those around
you.