It was a sunny, bright, warm afternoon in May. I remember it was Thursday; we were excited for the weekend and that school was almost over. We would be graduating soon.
The sun felt hot in the student parking lot at my high school, and a bunch of us were walking out to our cars together, chatting and laughing. I waved at my friend Mike and his friends as they jumped into his old, open-topped Jeep and shouted that I’d see him tomorrow.
And that was the last time I ever saw him.
Three lives were ended that day. In perfect driving conditions, Mike lost control of his Jeep during a 10 minute drive home. Nobody was exactly sure why. His Jeep hit the ditch. His two friends, who weren’t wearing their seatbelts, were ejected from the vehicle. Mike hit his head on the steering column and died from severe brain injuries. “Driver error due to distracted driving,” the police concluded.
Terribly tragic. None of us who knew them could ever forget that day, or the months that followed.
We learned early on that we weren’t invincible, and the cost of the horrible lesson had been high. Still, I carried that shock with me these past seventeen years. When I might have been tempted to drive because I was “only a little tipsy,” or when I was too tired, or thought about cutting off the “jerk going exactly the speed limit in the fast lane,” a little voice in my head would remind me it wasn’t worth it.
Too many vehicular accidents happen even when we don’t tempt fate, as my late father-in-law could attest. He was T-boned when a young driver, who was playing with his phone instead of watching the road, ran a red light.
Sometimes good drivers become statistics to bad driving, too.
I’ve got some years yet before I need worry about my own son climbing behind the wheel of a car, but you can be sure that I will be telling him the stories about his Grandfather and my friend Mike before he ever gets his permit. And I hope that you will, too. It would be nice to think that someone else’s kids will always make it home safely because they never had to learn the hard way that a bad decision or a split-second’s inattention is all it takes to end a life.
Sign the Pledge Campaign
G1.ca would like to encourage parents to actively participate in their teens’ learning of what it means to be a safe driver. The Parent Driver Contract is a tool that can be used to facilitate a discussion between parent and teen about the elements of remaining safe behind the wheel. This contract is available for download on the G1.ca site.
G1.ca Founder, Andrei Zakhareuski, said well-prepared, knowledgeable drivers are informed, safer drivers. “It is our hope that thousands of parents will take this opportunity to sign the pledge” Mr. Zakhareuski added.
G1.ca is a website for Ontario learners who want to practice their skills before taking the written road sign and rules of the road test. It has been developed by the creators of the US website, Driving-Tests.org. Since its launch in 2010, Driving-Tests.org has had 6.4 million unique visitors and has been featured in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal and The Examiner.
G1.ca allows users to practice the simulated G1 practice tests for free as many times as they like and offers immediate feedback. No registration is required. For more information, visit G1.ca.
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In Ontario in 2010, almost 250 deaths and over 14,900 injuries were reported as a result of the driver being inattentive, fatigued, or DUI. A simple commitment to teaching new drivers how to practice driving safely could make all the difference to people you love. If someone had kept his eyes on the road, my husband might still have his father. If my friends had been trained a little bit better, they might have made it home.
Teach your kids to be safe; take the tests, sign the pledge.
