Drive With Confidence, But Not Overconfidence

Driving, whether it is in a car, on a motorcycle, or even riding a bike, is used by millions of people every day for transportation across the globe. As people, we have our own lives that we stress over for our own personal reasons, but one thing people seem not to worry about is the roads. In America alone we have an average of 34,000 deaths a year and this is just for one out of about 195 countries in the world. The numbers add up fast; and sure, we can say people should be more considerate, but it’s hard to blame them for being reckless if they don’t know the risk. This is why we need to strive to educate every driver we can on the risks of driving and how to drive safely.

So, you may wonder, how can we do this? I mean there are A LOT of people to teach. Well, we can start by having advertisements in radio commercials or on TV simply explaining simple solutions, such as holding the wheel with both hands, in a way comfortable for you. I have seen my dad from experience drive all the time with barely even three fingers on one hand and at any moment he could lose control of his wheel. The most overlooked things could sometimes be the most important. Another issue is drivers feel overconfident. We want these statistics to humble them. Some people claim to know all there is on driving and when they hit the road will zoom past you like a rocket out of nowhere and disappear in moments, recklessly switching lanes or speeding around sharp curves. Confidence is good but not on this level. On the flip side we don’t want this education to scare drivers, which can be just as bad as overconfidence. If people are scared drivers, they will drive too slowly, putting them at more risk on interstates or may flinch/scream when driving if another driver startles them. My mom is guilty for this, but not even while driving, but being the passenger. If my dad is driving and a car startles her, she grabs on to his arm. Yes, she feels safe, but what she doesn’t realize is jeopardizing our safety by distracting the driver. By including passenger education in our driver education everyone, including those who can’t drive will act safer on the roads. So, with the right education, we can have safely confident drivers on the road and no accidents will happen. Right?

Education is crucial to help keep people safe, but sometimes accidents can not be prevented such as hydroplaning. While we aim to prevent any accidents from ever occurring, we also must educate others how to handle an accident if they ever find themselves in one, or see another in one. If you are in an accident the most important thing is to stay calm. We can not work well under immense pressure and need to keep focused if we want to make it out of an accident safely. We can teach people how to handle others being in an accident as well by making sure they stay calm as well, safely pull over and call for help. Now we see bumper to bumper traffic around accidents all the time, even on the other side of the road from the accident. This is because we as people are naturally curious and have to look and see what is going on. However, if the help is already there we must try to focus on our own driving and let the authorities take over. This will decrease traffic, which poses a higher chance of an accident due to the congestion. Along with commercials and radio ads we can also make sure we re-educate people on drivers’ safety every time they renew their license. Many of you may already know this, but it is possible to renew your license by mail. By mail. What would be a more efficient way to do this, and educate people at the same time, would be to at least have everyone retake the written test every time they renew their license. Yes, this could get annoying, but it will do more to help you than you may know, and spending about 30 minutes on a test is not that long.

I know I can make myself a safer driver by turning my radio down in congested places or during storms, as well as holding on to the wheel with two hands instead of one. I encourage everyone reading this to become safer as well. So, tell me, how will you make the driving world a safer place?