The Need for Defensive Driving and Legislation to Reduce Pedestrian Injury and Fatality

When I was 16, my friend Justin was hit by a car on his way to school. We went to a small high school that used a lottery system for students to attend. Justin crossed the street every day to get to one of the larger high schools so he could take the bus from one school to another. Right in front of that high school, the speed limit was 40 miles per hour. It was a foggy day in October and there was very little visibility. The driver was following the law and going the speed limit, but Justin was invisible in the fog. If the driver had considered what an appropriate speed would be in those conditions regardless of the speed limit, Justin likely could have walked away alive.

Safe driving isn’t only about following traffic laws. Driving is a privilege, one that requires specific expertise and a lot of consideration of what is happening in the world around us. Here in Michigan, the law does not dictate what speed you are going based on the weather, but the weather and other factors should dictate safe driving habits.

After Justin’s death, I started paying attention to statistics of pedestrian injuries and deaths based on a vehicle’s speed. A slight increase in speed increases the risk of injury or death for a pedestrian exponentially. According to reports, “The average risk of severe injury for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle reaches 10% at an impact speed of 16 mph, 25% at 23 mph, 50% at 31 mph, 75% at 39 mph, and 90% at 46 mph. The average risk of death for a pedestrian reaches 10% at an impact speed of 23 mph, 25% at 32 mph, 50% at 42 mph, 75% at 50 mph, and 90% at 58 mph.” Low visibility reduces the likelihood of a driver being able to slow down in a reasonable amount of time. I shared statistics like this with my friends who were of driving age at the time and I believe that this helped us all increase our awareness of the responsibility involved in driving. Many of us chose to delay our licenses because we didn’t feel ready to take on that level of responsibility. I did not obtain a driver’s license until I was almost 18 years old because I wanted to have extra training and time to think about my decision to drive a car. Almost 10 years later, none of my friends who knew Justin and vowed to drive defensively have been in vehicle accidents due to their own fault or resulted in any injuries, myself included.

Something that I have found to be helpful in gaining confidence and responsibility when driving is learning about defensive driving strategies. When I drive, I assume that pedestrians and other drivers are not paying attention and place responsibility on myself to keep the roads safe. If I am ever unsure about road conditions, visibility, or another person’s actions, I slow down or avoid driving if possible. Defensive driving education has been proven to be incredibly effective to increase road safety and decrease traffic violations. A study of more than 30,000 Massachusetts drivers showed that in the year after completing the an online driver safety training, traffic violation rates decreased from 2019 to 2021: “Total violation rates decreased 71%, minor violation rates decreased 74%, major violation rates decreased 38%, surchargeable violation rates decreased 74%”. Defensive driving allows drivers to anticipate and prepare for hazards such as pedestrians, wild animals, distracted drivers, and more. Defensive driving courses teach citizens about the responsibilities and dangers of driving to try to prevent tragedies such as Justin’s death.

In addition to personal responsibilities on the road, it is important to pressure legislators to create further safety standards for our roads. In my home state of Michigan, it is nearly impossible to lower the speed limit of a road unless it is within a certain range of a school, and school zones still only change the speed limit during certain hours of the day. To change the speed limit of the road, one must petition the municipality to do a road speed survey. The average speed of cars on the road during the survey becomes the new speed limit, for better or for worse. In areas where speeding is an issue, attempting to lower the speed limit usually backfires and results in a higher speed limit for the road. This is an unacceptable method. Local municipalities end up creating more hazardous situations to avoid speed surveys by implementing more crosswalks, installing metal poles in the middle of the road, or installing speed bumps which are not maintained. These hazards are meant to deter drivers from speeding, but are invisible underneath the snow for 3 months out of the year. To effectively reduce traffic accidents, injuries, and fatalities, it is important that we are able to adjust speed limits to suit the needs of citizens without risking a worse situation. Education and understanding of local and state laws is an important part of drivers education, including how to change these laws for the sake of public safety when necessary.