What do we really learn from a car crash?
We spend so much time in a car, but if we were to think about the physical and emotional impacts of a car accident, we would probably never get in a vehicle! Every time we go around the blind corner, we are, in essence, putting our lives into our own hands. It’s a very real threat and we are all susceptible to it, but for such a high amount of people that get involved in car accidents, do they really learn anything from it? And what can we learn?
Don’t ever get your phone out!
You see people all the time, instead of looking in front, they are looking straight down. They’re not fooling anyone, and we know they’re looking at their phones, but even though it’s illegal, why are people still doing it? It’s arguably the stupidest thing we do as drivers, but we make the mistake of getting used to the road, so we think we can do pretty much whatever we want in the car. Phones cause a hefty chunk of car accidents now, and there’s really no excuse to ever get your phone out while you’re on the road. Put it in flight mode!
Shock is a dreadful thing
After a crash, you can feel an incredible amount of guilt, especially if you are the perpetrator, and the feeling of shock or any emotional guilt is a very tangible thing if you’ve caused hurt to someone else. George Salinas talks about feelings of numbness after a car accident, and this is arguably the tip of the iceberg. If you got involved in an accident where you did nothing wrong, you can feel like you’ve lost control of your life in some way, and this isn’t a nice feeling to have, to put it lightly! If you caused damage to someone else, it’s time to reevaluate your own abilities as a driver.
Being in a rush is not an excuse
We are all in a rush, and it seems that that is reason enough for us to weave in and out of traffic on the motorway, tailgate others, and generally be aggressive about everyone else. Yes, we’re all in a rush, this is because there’s more traffic, but here’s a suggestion, make more time for your journey. If you are in a rush and you want to get to work on time, or you’re trying to get home, if you get caught in a fatal accident, you might never make it home. So is it really worth speeding, or driving erratically so you can get where you’re going to?
These things are nothing new, but we don’t think about them until we’ve been in a car accident. And while so many of us have been in an accident, after a while, we start to relearn the same old habits that we had prior to the accident. So this begs the question, does anybody really learn from a car accident? It seems that the people who have really learned their lesson have caused suffering and heartache to others. But very simply, we can all learn, and it’s just about not being so stupid on the road.
** This is a collaborative post