Driving: A Daily Activity More Dangerous Than You Think

Many people do not know that driving poses 70x more risk to your health than bungee jumping. Driving is also more dangerous than skydiving, believe it or not! Both of the latter activities in these two statements seem dangerous to many, but we don’t think about the cognitive abilities, coordination, timing and attentiveness we need when driving. Being impaired in any of these aspects can result in an incident ranging from a minor to a life-altering accident. It is said that approximately 34,000 Americans die each year as a result of driving (Mims, 2013). This is more than the total number of American soldiers who have died from war in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Give two years and there will be more driving-related deaths than American fatalities from the Vietnam War. How can a daily activity be more dangerous than war?

It’s because of a lack of driver education and irresponsible driving. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of services to shift online, including completing driver’s license tests virtually. Unfortunately, many have resorted to cheating methods to earn a passing grade and start driving with no knowledge to limited knowledge because they haven’t learned anything from doing tests properly and learning from mistakes.

New drivers lack experience, especially compared to senior drivers. They haven’t faced diverse real-life scenarios, including challenging weather conditions, which can lead to impulsive decisions due to poor anger management and emotions. Winter conditions bring snowfall, leading to accidents. Rain and not driving smoothly can result in hydroplaning, causing uncontrollable skidding. Driver education prepares drivers for these risks and provides knowledge about vehicle components, including using anti-lock brakes to regain control in a skid. Knowledgeable drivers can respond effectively in threatening situations, such as swerving on snowy roads or dealing with brake malfunctions, thus reducing accident risks.

While driver education is an important step in reducing the number of deaths related to driving, other factors like the enforcement of speed limits, drinking and driving rules, and vehicle safety standards help minimize risk. According to a study released by the University of Nebraska in 2015, young drivers who had not completed driver education were 75% more likely to get a traffic ticket, 24% more likely to be involved in a fatal/injurious accident, and 16% more likely to get into accidents in general (University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Web Developer Network). Increasing speeding fines to impose a sense of risk in breaking the law, which can be done by implementing speeding cameras, can help to catch individuals that pose a threat to the safety of pedestrians and other drivers. Drinking and driving is a serious issue involving impaired driving ability due to being under the influence of alcohol. This results in the inability to make decisions. If drivers are found to be guilty, stricter DUI laws can be enforced by reducing the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit and imposing harsher punishments for serial offenders. Vehicle safety standards such as airbags and seatbelts help to reduce the extent of injury during an accident, as they can prevent whiplash. Some steps the community can take to reduce the number of deaths is to encourage using public transportation, taking refresher driving courses, and establishing watch programs in which at-risk & hazardous individuals can be reported anonymously to increase the likelihood of citizens taking part in surveillance.

While I may not have been in a car accident, I have witnessed friends drive recklessly in stressful situations. Often due to demanding work in their everyday lives, such as taking kids to events and corporate work, they don’t stop completely at stop signs, and I can feel that they think there is a slowdown of ceasing at the red octagons. Sometimes, they don’t wear their seatbelts when they get in the car and have speeded sparingly. However, these incidents reflect a greater problem. My city is especially prone to car crashes in comparison with the rest of the metropolitan area that I live in. I’ve seen many drivers speed on a red light to make a left turn. There is also excessive honking because of distracted drivers not paying attention to traffic light signals. These behaviors are strong reasons why safe driving practices need to be enforced.

As someone who has been exposed to Canadian driving standards, there are some steps that I can take and things I will do differently than the people I know. As a relatively new driver, I could drive more with an instructor or a family member as I have a source of comfort and reassurance. I can control my emotions when I drive and not let any negative or overly exciting emotions affect any tendencies to hit the gas! Additionally, I will refuse to get into a car being driven by someone who is impaired, whether it be due to alcohol or intense feelings, which are the opposite of calmness. Perhaps the most important action I can take is to practice defensive driving and to make sure that I have a plan to escape situations where I might have an incident. This includes anticipating the actions of other road users and not committing actions based on predictions that I made in the past.

These steps go hand in hand with cooperating with the community to create a safer driving environment. By being a courteous driver and understanding that we as drivers all have somewhere to get to, we can be generous and sacrifice some time to prioritize the safety of ourselves and others instead of hastily getting to where we have to be, making complicated decisions.