The most dangerous hobby

Driving, something that we all do every single day. Because it is something that we do every day, one would think that it is safe. In reality it can become one of if not our most dangerous hobby. How should we prepare adequately for something so dangerous but so common? To participate in UFC, which could be considered a dangerous hobby, they train and prepare for years to get their chance. Training has always been a requisite of a hobby with any implication of danger. Driving is not and should not be the exception.

Drivers education has been something in place to help new drivers learn the ropes. Is drivers education important or can society do without? Every teenager is looking forward to the day when they turn sixteen and can finally hit the road by themselves. Before any of them can get to that, they have to go through a course and practice driving with an instructor. In the majority of states there is a classroom course to learn the rules and laws of the road. Along with that, prospective drivers will have to complete a certain number of hours with a trained instructor to be able to learn through experience. Why is this important? As mentioned above, training is always required when there is danger involved. Continuing my example of UFC we can show this principle. I am an average sized man with no special athletic ability, if I tried to just hop into the ring tonight with Connor Mcgregor and fight him, I’d get wrecked. I am nowhere near the level that I should be to beat him. I would need to train for hours and even years to be able to hold myself in the ring. Driving is no different. In 2020 there were about 40,000 motor related deaths in the USA. In the UFC there were 0. These numbers show indefinitely that there is a need for training and regulation for driving. While it can be skewed because more people drive than fight in UFC, we can all agree that there is danger involved in driving and should require training and learning.

What steps can be taken to ensure that the training is effective and long-lasting? Many people go through the motions with drivers education and then forget everything learned in the classroom setting. To increase retention of information in other aspects of life, we continue education even after passing the exam. Let’s think about insurance. Insurance agents who pass the licensing test in their state have to take a certain amount of classes every few years to be able to keep their licenses active. The same applies with real estate agents. Continuing education on driving could decrease deaths because of the principle of understanding. When a person understands a principle, they are less likely to violate that principle. All religions and most societies are built upon this principle. In driving, most accidents come exactly as that, accidents. I personally have seen accidents in which there was a simple misunderstanding about rules of the road and that led to the accident. That can be done away with by continuing education after the licensing to refresh their mind on the rules of the road.

That idea of continuing education probably doesn’t sound very attractive to anyone because who wants to put themselves through that? The way you can do it is spread it out over the year to lower added stress put on by these extra courses. Lets propose 2 hours per year of training videos and pass a short quiz after the videos. Let’s make the videos interesting so that people will actually be able to watch them and not be bored at the same time. Think about it, watching a sports broadcasting show about driving, or even a game show. Imagine who wants to be a millionaire but with questions about the road. Now that’s a quiz I would take. One great example of this is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I’m sure everyone has seen their missionaries on the streets of every city in the world and could pick out the white shirt and ties with a black tag from a mile away. They train their missionaries about safety through a series of videos called The safety zone. They’re videos modeled after a sports pregame show and it takes the missionaries through situations that can be potentially dangerous, especially with cars. These videos provide entertainment to the prospective missionaries and also train them at the same time. Multiple sets of videos could be made to help people based on their interests. Potential ideas include: A play on driving, Sports broadcast on driving, game show on driving, docudrama on driving and others. The play Hamilton serves as a huge help in high school history because it shows historical data in a way that people grasp because it captures their attention. The same idea could also be applied with driving.

I can personally improve as a driver by continuing my learning. Just as we all do in other subjects of life, we keep learning if we don’t want to forget. If I don’t want to forget how to swing a baseball bat, I need to practice often. All skills require practice and learning. Driving is the same. The more I practice, the more I understand about the road leading to less errors committed by me. If I can minimize my errors, I minimize the chances of an accident. Together, through learning in a fun and worthwhile way, we can all work together to decrease road deaths and drive safer.