San Luis Obispo High School students live in a society where driving is practically indispensable. Unfortunately, it is also the most dangerous thing that we participate in. In 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States ages 16-19 died in fatal accidents. Even with these high death rates, the fact that you might die behind the wheel is a surprisingly easy thought to ignore. It doesn’t seem that pressing because it is pretty unlikely. Unless we, or someone we know has been in an accident, we tend to dismiss the dangers without really making an effort to drive safer or remove distractions.
Today, I am going to present a different way of thinking about distracted driving. Have you ever considered what it would be like to really feel guilty? Not just because you lifted a pack of gum from the grocery store or lied to your parents about what you did last weekend, but to feel visceral, all-encompassing guilt. Most of us have never felt this way before. We may regret some of the things we have done, but we don’t know what it is like to ruin or even end someone’s life. For myself, I never want to know what that feels like.
The reality is that driving should be a little frightening. We share the road with a bunch of strangers, and we are all doing our best to abide by the rules of traffic while at the same time get to our destination. Now it’s true that driving is fairly easy once you get the hang of it, but it only requires one mistake behind the wheel to actually become a terrible person. One text message, too much weed, or not enough sleep. These are all perfect ways to set yourself up for that one mistake. The next time you get behind the wheel, don’t consider the possibility that you will die, but consider that on that day you may acquire an intolerable burden that you will have to live with for the rest of your life.
