Education, Emotion, and Apathy: An Discussion of Safety Priorities on the Road

Being behind the wheel of a vehicle can be a cathartic experience. Blazing at high speeds down an empty highway; music blasting through built-in speakers; the feeling of running away from it all; it’s a great feeling to be on the road. That said, the road can be a dangerous place, and the drivers even more dangerous. People can be on the road inebriated, unlicensed, inexperienced, or even emotionally compromised. All of which can lead to catastrophic results on the road that result in injury, disability, or even death. The United States has taken many approaches to make its roads safe, but still, death is quite common across the asphalt. So why do deaths keep happening on the open road? What kind of people cause them? And what can be done to prevent them? All these questions shall be answered in this essay, and it all starts with driver’s education.

The most powerful tool in the world is knowledge and the world of driving is no exception. Driver’s education is critical in the development of good drivers on the road. Just like any skill, driving requires knowledge and practice to perfect. One can’t just jump into the cockpit of a plane and expect to be Maverick. They have to understand what every button in that small room means, what it does, and when to press it. In the same sense, every man, woman, and child needs to understand what everything in their car does. I received minimal education in driving when I was young, so when I was asked where my emergency brake was, I embarrassingly could not point it out. When I was changing my oil at a shop, I couldn’t pop my own hood. These types of skills are what one must learn in order to be able to drive. Imagine if I had to use my emergency break in a life or death situation. That would’ve ended catastrophically for me.

Driver’s education also provides a crucial element to all drivers: reduced anxiety behind the wheel. My principal at my high school would always say, “Preparation is the antidote to anxiety,” and that quote holds such truth as if it were engraved in religious text. Imagining a plane crashing down, I’m sure the first image one would conjure would be every passenger screaming and panicking. The cockpit would hold a different story, however. The captain and his copilot wouldn’t be panicking, they’ve trained for this. They understand what to do in situations like this and how to best respond to them. They’re calm and collected like action movie heroes. This is a mirror of the difference between an educated driver and an uneducated driver. An educated driver knows how to handle tough situations be it simple traffic jams to intense hydroplaning. An uneducated driver has no clue what to do in any situation. As a result, the uneducated driver panics and disaster strikes as he does nothing and his emotions cloud his judgment. He’s emotionally volatile from the fear of the unknown. His head is being bombarded by useless, panic-induced nothings. This bombardment will ultimately lead to either his first crash or his death, and neither are what anybody wants for that person. This is why driver’s education is so quintessential. It is the antidote to anxiety and the light in the dark for drivers everywhere.

Now, if everybody gets an education in driving, everything should be fine, right? No. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, around 62% of drivers took a driver’s education course. Are crashes and car-related deaths still a problem? Yes. This reality shows that there is much more to be done in order to reduce deaths behind the wheel. Most people would say that the best way to further reduce deaths would be to further increase the effectiveness of education, but I disagree. If a kid is put in a private school, he could still be as apathetic about it as he would be in a public school, but if a kid is put in a strict school threatening punishment, then I’d imagine the kid would care more about it. In the same light, I’d shift the blame away from the education system for once and instead examine the police force. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I drive over the speed limit quite often, but the minute I even see a police car, one can bet that I crank down the speed by a few miles. It is in my belief that the police are much more apathetic towards drivers who speed or act unreasonably. Therefore, I think that the police should put further emphasis on speeding and be more vigilant on the road, or better yet, just more common. A policeman could be as apathetic as possible about speeding, but if somebody sees him on the side of the road, they’re gonna double-check their speedometer regardless. Basically, I think people need reminders to keep them in line on the road. Whether or not those reminders are met with backlash is negligible. The only part that matters is that the reminders are cops and that they are common.

Throughout my life, I have encountered many instances of crashes and reckless driving whether it be me or my acquaintances. I have been involved in four collisions. Two of which were my fault and a result of my negligence. The other two were results of negligence and nature. The nature one involved an unfortunate encounter with a deer. Two others involved me not looking and hitting something due to either being emotionally blind or just being plain ignorant. Another one involved somebody being negligent and hitting the back of my car, which resulted in no damage except for embarrassment for the driver behind me. The only other notable reckless driving I can imagine involved my father. We were on a highway stuck in a traffic jam. My dad was being cocky and not paying attention to the road. He then began talking to me and I noticed that the car was slowly moving. I thought my dad would notice but he didn’t. The car instead just kept going. This was a traffic jam so the car was about to hit the back of another car. This resulted in me yelling at him to hit the brakes which he did and told me I was overreacting. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I was.

With my experience, I’d say the best way for me to be a better driver is to be emotionally and mentally calm. If your mind drifts off or you’re angry, then don’t drive. Emotions are good, but extreme emotion leads to your judgment getting clouded. Zoning out or not paying attention makes you unaware of what’s going on. These things are what caused my blunders on the road. For others, I’d say the best way for everybody to be better drivers emotionally is to have some empathy. If somebody gets affected negatively by another on the road, you need to understand that person was trying their best. Everybody is trying and everybody gets angry on the road. Everybody has been cut off on the road. Everybody has almost been put in a wreck by a fool on the road. Everybody has been treated poorly on the road. Now, does the perpetrator do that on purpose: mostly no. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody is human, so I’d say everybody needs to show a little empathy to each other to avoid road rage as well as to provide a safer and calmer environment on the road. If the mind is calm, the mind is still, and this allows for good focus, but if left uncalm and unstilled, the mind will wander and hurt the focus of a driver.

In conclusion, danger on the road can be present in many ways and can be tackled in many more. It is not a simple matter of education even though education is a crucial part of it. It is also not a danger that should be slept on. Transportation is such a crucial part of American life that the US government has a branch dedicated to it. Transportation is communication. Communication creates knowledge, and knowledge creates power.