Making the Roads Safer

Driver’s education is an important part of preparing new drivers to operate their vehicles safely. It teaches the rules of the road and how to operate the vehicle. My Dad always said that “you really start learning how to drive once safely you pass your driver’s test.” What he meant by that is driver’s education can’t prepare you all you will face on the road such as driving in inclement weather, heavy rush hour traffic and at night. When you are driving you need to focus on the road and learn to anticipate what other drivers will do. When I was learning to drive with my Dad, we were driving on a 4 lean divided road and my dad told me to look at a car that was about to cross the road in front of me. He told me that the car was not going to stop and I needed to slow down. The car in fact did not stop and in fact turned left on the wrong side of the divided road because I slowed down I was able to avoid hitting the car. I asked him how he knew what the car was going to do. He told me that he noticed that the driver was driving in erratically and only experience will allow you to notice things like this. I am not sure driver’s education can significantly reduce the number of driving fatalities. According the National Highway Safety Administrations the leading causes of fatal automobile accidents are driving too fast for the road conditions and not wearing seatbelts.

If we as a society are committed to reducing deaths due to automobile accidents there are somethings we can do. Driver’s education needs to become a lifetime requirement instead of the one and one systems we have now. Completing a four hour defensive driving course should be a requirement to renew your license every four years to remind people of the dangers of careless and aggressive driving. and also require passing a road test every eight years and after the age of 70 pass a road test every two years. This will reduce the number of impaired drivers on the road. This idea will get a lot of pushback. Most people think they are good, safe drivers and will resent the time and money they will incur. I also believe that the penalties for careless driving such as driving more than 5 miles over the speed limit, running stop lights and not wearing seatbelts should be significantly increased. The prospect of a large fines or restrictions such as only being able to drive to and from work will change behavior. We also need to increase the number of law enforcement personnel on the road. This will come with a significant cost but it should not be funded with funds obtained from traffic fines to prevent quotas.

I have been fortunate enough to have never been in a car accident. I have witnessed several accidents. They were reared collisions that were the result of not maintaining proper following distance. I was riding with my friend when she was pulled over for going 45 MPH in residential area. She was severely scolded by the police officer but was let off with a warning. A few days later she was over speeding in the neighborhood again and a child ran into the road and she had to swerve and she hit a stop sign and severely damaged her car.

I have done some soul searching about how I can be a safer driver. I need to be more patient and not be in such a hurry. I need to make a habit of leaving earlier to allow for traffic delays. I need to remember that driving fast and changing lane aggressively and “punching it” to get through light before it turns read will only get me to my destination a few minutes early. When I am driving by myself I need to put my cell phone in the glove compartment to eliminate the distraction. When I am riding with my friends and family I need to have the courage to point out when they are not driving safely.

In conclusion a good drivers education program is a good start in making a good driver but it takes years of experience to be a safe driver and making periodic retraining mandatory will remind drivers the importance of driving defensively. Increased enforcement and increased penalties will deter aggressive driving. We all need to call out when we see someone driving unsafely.