Can car accidents be better prevented?

There are over five million car accidents in the U.S. each year and more than 46,000 car crashes that end in death to a person each year in the U.S. Is there a way to improve our driving abilities to cause less accidents? When a person is driving, they are not only driving themselves and their own car, but they are driving the car behind them, in-front of them, and beside them. Driving an automatic vehicle is a power, and with great power comes great responsibility. People tend to abuse this power and in doing so inflict pain on others for their mistakes. Having innocent people forced to be involved in the driver’s mistakes. The number one cause of car accidents is distracted driving, it is so easy to get distracted and be ignorant on the road and get pulled into dangerous accidents. A driver’s main concern should be safe driving whether you are driving solo or driving with passengers.

Looking at the national wide article with safety tips to safe driving, a few of the tips they presented was defensive driving with tricks like keeping a two to four second cushion between the car in front and behind you, and being aware of the crazy acts that could occur from cars around you. Another trick through this article included having the car reasonably set up before starting the car and driving. For example adjusting your mirrors, seats, climate controls, music stations, and having a planned out idea of how your drive will look with the end destination, and breaks for food and any other personal needs.

Basic car safety is to wear your seatbelt at all times. Seatbelts are a person’s number one defense and protection in cases of an accident. Also making sure your gas tank is always filled to reach your destination. It may seem silly but having an emergency kit or backup bag in your car could come in handy with serious situations. Being aware of the weather and what the roads look like is also an important habit a person needs to get into in order to be a safe driver.

This article has presented the directions one would need to do after an accident has occurred. After a person has been caught and involved in an accident the first thing to do is to make sure everyone is ok and not injured, then the person or persons must stay at the scene and call the local police and wait for their arrival. If able to stay in or by your car especially in the case of being close to a busy road or highway. Another thing a person would want to do in the case of an accident is call their insurance company and explain the person’s claim and situation.

Exchanging driver information with the other person in the accident is usually what comes next. This would mean exchanging names, address, phone number, insurance company, insurance policy number, and drivers plate number with some information on the car. It’s also key in these situations to record everything going on so nothing gets misread or mixed up when telling the officials.

Another big important safety rule in driving is staying sober. Being intoxicated can cause a person to easily get distracted, and to be unaware on the roads which can lead to accidents. Too much intoxication while driving is known as Driving under influence (DUI) or Driving while intoxicated (DWI) which can lead to expensive legal consequences that can result in jail time, license suspension, fines, ect. Under 21 the legal alcohol intake while driving is a zero tolerance and ages over 21 have a .08 blood alcohol concentration also known as BAC. If ever pulled over by a police official they will ask you a series of questions to test your sobriety. The questions would be like saying your ABCś backwards and being asked to perform some movements like walking in a straight line or walking or walking backwards, and in some cases a person may have to test their breath by breathing in a breathalyzer. The breathalyzer test will show if a person has high or any alcohol intake.

Transportation is an important concept to have in life. After turning a certain age it is most likely that the person will be driving. Whether it’s a student driving to school, a new intern or hire driving to their job each day, or parents giving their child daily transportations. Point is there is too much reckless driving in this world and it’s an important idea that needs to be better talked about.

References

Driving safety tips. (n.d.). Nationwide. Retrieved November 6, 2023, from https://www.nationwide.com/lc/resources/auto-insurance/articles/driving-safety-tips