Dangers on the streets: Drivers face difficult circumstances

It was a late summer night, and senior Leo Kim was driving down Canyon View Drive. The road was clear — until a huge shape leaped directly in front of his car. 

When unusual noises followed the appearance of the shape, Kim realized he had hit a deer. 

After he heard the bones breaking, he slowed the car down and tried to carefully drive over it and not injure it further. Then, he heard more bones breaking and drove away.

“I felt like a terrible person because I had taken the life of a living thing,” Kim said. “It’s a very sobering experience.”

Hitting a deer in the middle of the night might not be a common event for most student drivers, but to Kim’s friends, it was part of a developing pattern and evidence that some drivers are more prone to bad luck than others. And for some students, learning to drive safely is a daunting challenge.

“Every time I'm in his car, there's another accident,” senior Lauren Lin said. “Driving in the wrong lane, scratching cars, going over curbs, driving away when I'm only halfway in the car, forgetting to turn his lights on and so much more that I'm sure I'm forgetting.”

Senior Reggie Wu, one of Kim’s good friends, said that Kim “does things like to merge into lanes without looking, and [forget] that his car is in reverse.” 

He also remarked that when Kim parks, both wheels of the car often end up on the curb.

One night after band practice, Lin gratefully accepted a ride home from Kim. 

Lin got much more than she bargained for when Kim immediately exited the parking lot through an entrance, and then turned into an opposite lane. 

“He didn't even notice that he was driving on the left side of the road until about halfway to the traffic light,” Lin said. “It was really dark, and I was [in] shock and freaking out more than anything, and I definitely wasn't surprised because if you're in Leo's car, just know something will happen.”

Though Kim may seem a singular case, he is hardly alone in having an unfortunate driving record. 

Kim’s difficulties in learning to drive are similar to ones junior Catherine Cheng has gone through. 

According to junior Amanda Le, Cheng always arrives at traffic lights at a yellow, precisely so that she speeds through. 

Cheng said that the most fustrating part of driving is getting stuck behind a slow car.

“If a car is going too slow in front of her, she likes to tailgate them so that they get scared and drive faster,” Le said. “If they don't drive faster, she passes them.”

Cheng herself knows she gets easily distracted by the radio, her cell phone and conversations. Even her takeout from McDonalds can divert her attention.

“Once my friend was in the car, and I was reaching for my McDonalds and almost hit another car,” Cheng said. “[My friend] pulled my wheel and we didn't hit them.”

Still, Le doesn’t fear riding in her friend’s car.

“She hasn't gotten into any crashes, so I trust her to drive me,” Le said. “She just has her own little reckless style of driving.”