COMPILED BY THE KNOWLEDGE STAFF
So there I was, only 18 years old and driving in my first car. It was an old hand-me-down Volvo wagon borrowed from my stepmother. It was ugly but built like a tank. I was in the suburbs of Santa Clarita, Calif., a busy city in Los Angeles County. The weather was nasty that day, with rain drenching the streets and hindering visibility as I searched for a ramp onto the freeway. I realized I was a risky situation because: 1) I was slightly lost; and 2) most Californians are pretty crappy drivers in bad weather. But there was third thing I didn’t realize — I, too, was a pretty crappy driver in bad weather.
Red brake lights reflected off the wet road as the cars in front of me came to a stop at an intersection. While waiting at the red light, I tried to look around, hoping to catch a glimpse of a freeway entry sign. Unfortunately, the hilly area and dark skies made it hard to see anything, and before I knew it, the cars were moving again. I returned my focus to the road and the car in front of me, which I was probably following a little too closely in my inexperience. Traffic was moving slowly, though, so I felt secure about my short following distance.
As the cars in front of me crossed through the intersection under the green light, I stepped on the gas pedal to match the speed of the vehicle in front of me. While passing through the intersection, I noticed an opening up ahead that would allow me to search for that elusive onramp. My eyes left the car in front of me and wandered to the left while my pressure on the gas pedal remained steady. The light was green after all, so the cars would keep moving, right? Wrong!
Upon finding no freeway entry signs, my eyes moved back forward to the shocking sight of red brake lights and a very small gap between me and the stopped car in front of me. I immediately slammed on the brakes, which engaged but didn’t stop my car. The wheels slid on the slick street, carrying me and my heavy, well-built Volvo into the rear of the hapless sedan in front of me. WHAM! But that wasn’t the end of it. My car kept going forward, its weight shoving the sedan into the lowered tailgate of a pickup truck.
Trying to calm my pounding heart, I took a few breaths and pulled over to the side of the road like I saw the drivers of the truck and sedan doing. Once we were all there, I hesitantly exited my vehicle, my head hung low. There to meet me were a middle-aged man and a young man, and neither looked very happy. The three of us turned to inspect our vehicles. The tailgate of the truck was pretty bent — its formerly straight edge visibly crimped. The hood of the sedan looked like wrinkled paper. It had been rammed into the tailgate of the truck so hard that the metal of the hood was peeled back to reveal the engine. And then there was my car, which looked … untouched. The old, ugly Volvo didn’t seem to have sustained any damage beyond a small scratch on the front bumper. The police were called and paperwork was filled out. Two angry drivers and three lectures from my dad later, I found my insurance had been raised and my pride in my driving skills — or lack thereof — lowered.
I learned a lot from that day and so can any driver. First and foremost, keep your eyes on the road! Wet conditions and short following distances aside, I would have been able to stop my car had I immediately reacted to the driver in front of me stopping. Secondly, keep a safe following distance even in slow traffic conditions. The National Safety Council recommends drivers use a three-second following distance to give them time to react should something happen on the road ahead. That distance should increase as road and weather conditions get worse. Third, reduce your speed and allow for longer stopping distances in adverse weather. It doesn’t take much water on the road for you to hydroplane, and chances are you will if you slam on your brakes. Save yourself from having to do that by driving slowly and giving yourself plenty of extra room.
In the end, I paid a lot of extra money and lost some respect from my dad, but this experience had positive aspects as well. I’m glad I learned to be a safer driver in a small multi-car crash in which no one was hurt. If I hadn’t gained some maturity, I likely would have eventually been involved in a worse accident that could have cost someone their life. However, because I started to take driving more seriously, I have not been involved in a single accident since that day. I can only hope that you will learn from my mistakes (or at least your own) and not place yourself and others in danger with reckless driving.