An Intuitive Solution to Reduce Traffic Deaths

There is nothing more important than life. Drivers education is life-saving education. It teaches us traffic laws, fundamental driving skills like parking, and how to keep lives safe. For example, driver education teaches us to anticipate and react appropriately to avoid accidents in the first place. We learn to identify potential risks on the road, such as pedestrians, other vehicles, and adverse weather conditions. We also learn risk-reducing strategies such as maintaining a safe following distance, scanning the road, and being aware of blind spots. Moreover, drivers education brings awareness to the dangers of reckless behaviors such as speeding, distracted driving, and driving under the influence of drugs. However, despite driver education, we still see drivers lose their lives.

On average, 34,000 people die each year in the USA as a result of driving. That’s more deaths than the total number of American soldiers who have died from war in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. What can we do to reduce the number of deaths from driving? My first thought is to revisit my childhood. I grew up in a rural village in Africa, and my family, like most families, could not afford a car. We walked everywhere and took public transportation. We were happy, safe, and very healthy from all the exercise. When I moved to the USA, I thought everyone was rich because homes have, on average, two cars lined up in their driveways. For the first time, I felt embarrassed to walk. Public transportation felt like being a second-class citizen. Why did my mindset change so drastically when I moved to the USA? It turns out that America has a particular car culture driven by the automobile and entertainment industries. This culture needs to shift if we want to save lives.

Human error accounts for 98% of accidents (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration et al., n.d.-b); this statistic almost hints at what we should do – get humans out of cars. If saving lives is the goal, then intuitively, reducing the number of divers on the road would lead to fewer accidents. As a bonus, it may also indirectly improve health-related issues resulting partly from the convenience of driving. For example, there is a strong link between obesity and the convenience of driving. According to studies, driving and obesity have a positive correlation of 98% (Jacobson et al., 2011). Unfortunately, obesity is complex, and pinpointing its causes is hard, but use your intuition here. Where I live, unless someone has a dog, it’s uncommon to see people on foot.

As a new mother, I am troubled that I cannot take my baby for a stroll to the park due to heavy traffic and harmful emissions. Instead, we take what appears to be a safer route – we drive to the park, further contributing to the problem. It’s important to acknowledge that transportation is responsible for 28 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the USA, with personal cars largely to blame (Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 2024). Reducing personal vehicles on the road has multiple benefits, from saving lives to saving the world. Achieving this may include investments in walking trails, bike programs, separate cycling roads, and accessible and affordable public transit. We can learn a lot from the Netherlands, which has one of the lowest traffic fatalities in the world. It is blazing the path toward “Vision Zero.” (Bloomberg , 2022)

Perhaps I am not the best person to come up with a solution because I am relatively new to driving. When I was a child, I had a traumatic near-death experience. My father was driving, and my sister and I were passengers. We were heading up a mountain on a narrow road. A large truck came speeding from behind the curve and hit us. Our car drove vertically on two wheels, leaning over the hill’s edge. I believe an angel saved us that night because what happened defied gravity. Since the experience, I’ve had a fear of driving. At a young age, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. It had a significant impact on my life. After years of believing that I could never drive, somehow, I was healed of the illness. Yet, the fear of driving had already become a part of me. It wasn’t until God blessed me with my baby that I found my “why.” Love is indeed a powerful force that supersedes fear. It gives life meaning and purpose. Because of my son, I learned to drive. I take steps to be a better and safer driver by practicing defensive driving techniques and reflecting on my driving daily.

I always remind my loved ones to drive safely. In the Akan African language, when someone is traveling, we say “ko bra,” which translates in English to “go and come back.” From the heart, it means – I love you. I need you. Make sure you return safe and sound back to me. It’s incredible how “come back” conveys the risk taken while traveling – indeed, one may never return. In the USA, someone gets in a car accident every five seconds (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). It takes five seconds to say, “go and come back,” “buckle up, I love you,” or “drive smart, keep me in your heart.” Saying a few words to your loved one before they head out the door could make all the difference; this is what I tell my friends and anybody who will listen. I will end my essay with this – Be somebody’s “why.”