A couple of days ago, I was in the passenger seat of my friend’s car. He got into a car accident and the car was pretty much totaled. We were waiting to pull out of an establishment to turn left onto a road and the woman coming from our left, had her turn signal on, slowed down and was supposed to turn right just before our car, but instead kept going straight as we were pulling out. She hit the car and dragged it to the left shoulder of the road. As anyone else would be, we were mad! Her car faced minor, repairable, damage, while my friend’s car was driven home with one of the front tires rubbing against his front bumper. Long story short, my friend caught most of the blame because he technically should’ve waited for her to complete the turn before heading out, despite signs saying otherwise. Even though, it seems unfair, it was still a lesson to be learned. Whenever I drive, I now know, more than ever, to make sure other drivers fully complete their intended actions and make sure I’m really in the clear before turning into any intersection. This is a part of defensive driving and something I’ll carry with me for as long as I drive.

My godmother took me out driving, again, and I did well but one thing I do need to improve on, is signaling. When I practice parallel parking, I often forget that signaling is a thing when parking. I signal when turning, changing lanes, or anything else but it never really registered that people use their signals when parking. Eventually, I got the hang of it but it wasn’t consistent. Next time I go out driving, I’ll definitely be more aware of my signaling as I don’t want this silly error to end up hurting me during my road test. My road test isn’t until March, but still, wish me luck on it! 🙂

Yesterday, my younger cousin and I went to the Cherry Hill Mall. Since my godmother was already out and was going to pass my cousin’s house first before making it home, she picked her up first. Because of this, she got to sit in the front seat. When I got picked up, I realized that my cousin didn’t have her seatbelt on. I was confused because the alert wasn’t going off, so I asked about it. Apparently, her phone slipped between the seat and the center console and took her seatbelt off so she could get it. Once she got the phone that ended up sliding under her seat, she forgot to put the seat belt back on. I completely understood where my cousin was coming from, as I have done the same thing before, but it still wasn’t an excuse. I told her to put her seatbelt on and to just remember to always put it back on as soon as possible if she ever needs to take it off. Anything can happen in any matter of time so always be safe out there, guys!!

Today, I was at a friends’ house because my godmother went to New York. I was there longer than intended so I was going to text and ask her where she was at, on the road. I, then realized that texting her runs the risk of her getting into an accident. I know we have Handsfree in the car so, to be safe, I called my godmother instead of texting her.

Today, my godmother took me out driving today for the third time. I know from previous experiences that you aren’t supposed to be on your phone when you are driving, so that is what I did. It’s actually kind of weird that people get busted driving with their phone in their hand so often, because it isn’t even tempting. Why take that risk? I enjoy driving and wouldn’t want to put myself in a life threatening situation like that, especially as a student driver. So, the takeaway here, is to practice safe driving by not being on your phone; better yet, put it in the glove compartment or the center console so that it is out of sight.