Day 217- No Distractions While Driving

So many things can happen while you're driving. You may think nothing may happen to you because you're a good driver. But many times it's the other people on the road you have to worry about. The last accident I was in was technically my fault, but it was because of something the driver did in front of me that completely caught me off guard.

I have been in a few other accidents in my life and have avoided several too. I do recall one incident when I was in high school; I was driving with some friends on an icy narrow road, if we went off the road we would have rolled down the hill. Luckily that didn't happen, but my car just kept on going around and around, my tires trying to get some traction. It was like something you'd see in a movie and it seemed like it was never going to end. Amazingly when we did stop we were still on the road and facing in the correct direction. I just restarted my car, which had stalled and we went along our merry way. I think any normal person probably would have panicked, but I am not normal, plus there was nothing I could have done anyway; panicking would have gotten me nowhere. So I did the only thing I could do at that moment in time; I waited. I think everyone in the car was surprised at my nonchalant reaction to the whole event.

My first accident was homecoming my freshman year in high school when our driver smashed into a telephone pole. I was less than a mile away from home. Luckily no one was seriously injured. Then there was the accident when I was in college. I was going out with whole bunch of friends for the night, and we got slammed into by a car as we went through a red light. That was the one accident I was in where distraction was probably the cause. You have a car full of people going out for the night. Everyone's talking, laughing, screaming, and probably not completely sober. Just because our driver was sober doesn't mean that the rest of us weren't a distraction to her.

I think when you're driving you need to keep your attention on the road, and I found myself a little distracted today with trying to open a wrapper or trying to call someone on my phone, and I decided I need to stop doing stuff like that when I'm driving. From now on I will be a safe driver and be a little more cautious about what I do while behind the wheel.