Habits and Strategies for Improving Driving Safety

With over 40,000 deaths in the US in 2021 caused by motor vehicle crashes, driver safety is a major topic today. Considering ways to make driving safer is important and worth the time and effort. Accidents can be caused by a multitude of mistakes or uncontrollable events, but most driving deaths are because of carelessness or recklessness on the driver’s part, like drunk driving, distracted driving, reckless driving, and speeding. Improving driver education could potentially help in all of these areas.

To begin with, parents have a huge effect on their kid’s driving. Parents set the example for their kids to follow, so if the parents speed and drive recklessly, their kids are more likely to think that’s acceptable behavior on the road. If parents speed often or drive distracted, then their kids probably will too. If parents exemplify good, cautious behavior, then their kids are more likely to be safer drivers. It’s important for parents to remember this even before their kids reach the age that they can start driver’s education.

I believe that driver education could have a significant impact on reducing the number of fatal car accidents, just as teaching drivers to always wear their seatbelts can save lives and reduce the number of driving deaths. One of the problems with current driver’s ed is that the students don’t take seriously the dangers of car crashes until they are in one. Driver education could be improved by informing students more extensively about the effects of car crashes. With more emphasis in driver’s ed upon the consequences of drunk driving, distracted driving, reckless driving, and speeding, more videos or pictures of car crashes, and more statistics listed about deaths, some people would take it more seriously and realize how dangerous driving can be. More information could help emphasize how horrible many car accidents are, and help change safety priorities.

More strategies to help reduce the number of accidents and deaths related to driving include drivers leaving at least 10 minutes early, so they don’t have to speed. Not driving drunk is critical, and could be emphasized more. Informational classes could be done at high schools with content similar to the driver’s ed information, so that all students know and are reminded of the basics of safe driving.

Another idea for reducing the number of deaths related to driving is to create a standard word that any passenger could say to the driver if they think that something might be wrong, or that the driver is going too fast. This is a similar idea to the “time out” strategy used by hospitals during critical procedures. Drivers could be taught in driver’s ed that this word means “slow down, something might be wrong.” Then, when they think that a friend or relative or whoever is driving them is going too fast or driving recklessly, or if they see something on the road, etc. they can say that code word and the driver will slow down and be more alert. If taught on a large scale, such as in every state with driver training, including in high schools, then in theory all drivers would know this phrase and it could be understood by anyone.

About two months ago, my cousin was driving my sister, another cousin, and me back from a swimming hole. She was going 40 mph on the gravel road, trying to catch up to the friends ahead of us. The three of us in the car were uncomfortable with how fast she was going, but we didn’t want to offend her or seem bossy by telling her to slow down. As we swept around a corner she realized she was going too fast and hit the brakes. We started to fishtail, and then the car hit the side of the road and rolled. On the first roll the windows shattered. On the second, the top of the car crunched down where my head was. I don’t remember the third roll, just the sounds of crunching and my cousin screaming and dirt everywhere and chaotic tumbling as we flipped once more and landed upright.

I don’t remember getting out of the car, but I do remember looking down at myself, at the blood beading on my hands and legs, a trickle of it streaming from my knee to my ankle. I felt dizzy and shocked. My cousin was kneeling on the ground sobbing and screaming, “My car. My car!” The next thing I knew I was sitting in my mom’s car as she drove me towards the ambulance bay. Once we got there I had a miserable ambulance ride the rest of the way to the nearest hospital. After a CT scan, hours of waiting, and a bit of cleaning up by the nurses, I was headed home with nothing more than a broken hand and two and half weeks ahead of back pain that limited my movement. My two cousins and my sister all had continuing back pain as well, but miraculously nothing worse than that.

As I think about it now, one way that our car accident could have been prevented would have been if one of us passengers told the driver to slow down. In the moment though, we didn’t expect to actually crash, and we didn’t want to risk offending our cousin or seeming controlling. If I had known we were going to crash, of course, I would have said something, but all I had in the moment was the uneasy feeling that we were going too fast. I think that if I had had a code word that could alert the driver without offending or seeming controlling, then I would have said it and we would have slowed down and not crashed and totaled the car and minorly injured all four passengers.

To be a better and safer driver myself I can make sure that I never speed, even when I’m late. I can also try to always leave at least ten minutes early to make sure that I don’t even feel tempted to speed. I should make sure I am never distracted while I am driving; this means starting music before I start driving and leaving my phone in the passenger seat. I don’t eat while I’m driving, and when I have friends in the car I don’t try to impress them with anything except for how safe I drive. Neglecting to follow the rules and principles of safe driving can have terrible consequences, and it’s important to do everything possible to make driving safer and less deadly.