Proposed Suggestions to Increase Road Safety

What was the first thing that you wanted to do when you turned 16? For many people in my class, it was to get their permit as soon as they could. Driving grants teenagers many new privileges, including the opportunity to get a job. In my city, it is impossible to receive employment due to the lack of public transportation, so, in order to have a social life, you need to have a car. Unfortunately, since humans are social animals, this can lead to people starting to drive before they’re actually ready. There are many reasons why someone may not be ready, including mental illness, which was why I didn’t get my permit until I was 17. However, it’s not always possible to delay driver’s education, so it’s important to have education to access this privilege. When I was in middle school, my mom got into a serious crash, and she ended up having to buy an entire new car because of it. It’s a good thing she’s still here today, because the guilt that can come from killing someone in a crash is like a rope choking your chest.

This leads me to my second question: “How many times have you not been able to see an important road sign because a foreign object(such as a tree) was blocking its exterior?” If you’re like me, you have probably run into this situation many times. Constantly on the road, there will be signs where you can only see their color, and their text is completely hidden. However, this is where driver’s education comes in. For example, maybe you couldn’t see a stop sign at first, but you knew to slow down since you saw markings on the pavement telling you: “STOP AHEAD.” Or maybe, you knew to stop because while the letters were hidden, the octagon itself wasn’t, signaling to you that this was where your speed should momentarily be at 0. Example situations like the ones I mentioned are why I’m able to avoid getting into an accident on the road. However, I wouldn’t have learned to look for these signs if I didn’t have a proper driver’s education. Before I started driving, I didn’t even notice that the roads had words alerting drivers about their potential surroundings. If it wasn’t for my driving lessons, I probably would’ve never noticed these markings in the street, as I’ve always been the type to look over the details in urgent situations.

However, despite my experiences, I believe that it’s important to get involved with your city regarding problems such as these. Not every area will have two warnings for a single action, which is why I believe the first step to having safer roads is getting involved with your local government. In my state (California), there is a specific intersection in Fresno that constantly has people running red lights. The intersection is at Friant Road, and if you’ve ever watched a car crash compilation, you are probably aware of how dangerous this area is. However, if you’re not, I will add some context regarding this street. According to a report done by Juanita Adame, resident Dan Wells claims that, “We’re hearing accidents on the average every two weeks, every two weeks there’s usually an accident and every day is a red light runner all the time” (Adame). Recently, thanks to the Fresno City Council, speed limits on these roads have been reduced in order to prevent future accidents. In an article authored by Rhett Rodriguez, resident Dan Wells shares his opinion on the new policy claiming that: “Red light runners is the real issue they have been running red lights here nonstop,” said Wells” (Rodriguez). This brings me on to my second point, while the government can prevent accidents by implementing safer policies, defensive driving is an essential skill that needs to be taught, as there will always be dangerous people on the road.

In other countries, such as Egypt, driving is a lot crazier than here in the United States. When my mother traveled over there to visit her family, she was terrified because the cars over there were driving in what she considered to be “complete chaos.” However, her relative, who had lived there for her entire life, drove through the entire thing like it was a piece of cake. Now, for a short brain break, I want you to ask yourself which country you think has more accidents. If you said Egypt, you are correct, but not by a wide margin. According to a list authored by World Population Review, there are about “12.80” deaths per 100k in Egypt, and about “12.40” deaths per 100k here in the United States. I do not know everything, but I think this is because in Egypt, drivers are required to learn defensive driving due to high pedestrian traffic in the streets. Here in the United States, while we are required to yield to pedestrians, the lack of teaching on defensive driving is what is possibly causing almost the same amount of accidents. Since our streets are safer, we rely on their safety, and this causes some people to crash since they assumed that the road would be safe.

To conclude, in order to make our roads safer, we need to focus on getting the government involved in our streets, and we need to learn more about defensive driving. If we were to implement these policies, then I think that we would have much safer roads, and we would have much lower rates of accidents than in other parts of the world. To add on, getting the government involved will help to improve our streets due to the current lack of care provided for nearby signs (such as trees covering almost an entire signal.) Finally, American driving schools should teach more about defensive driving, as it is an essential skill when avoiding an accident.