Are We Asking the Right Questions?

Driving any type of vehicle, whether it be a small Volkswagen Beetle or large semi-trailer trucks, it’s important to understand the safety precautions when driving. Fewer vehicle deaths would happen if more people truly understood the fundamentals of driving. You wouldn’t trust a child, an inexperienced shooter, or a random stranger to operate a fully automatic shotgun. The same can be said about driving, those who have no experience or don’t have the necessary knowledge, are prone to the risk of crashes more than an experienced driver. Not only does an inexperienced driver create more risks for themselves, they risk their passengers or other driver’s lives. Vehicles are more than a steering wheel, two pedals, and a stick shift. If more people took the time to truly understand their vehicle, they’d know how to react in situations such as wrecks or fixing their vehicles. 

From my driving experience, I have never been the cause for the wreck as the driver, but rather as a passenger. The memory is a bit hazy, but when I was younger my mother was driving behind my grandmother, driving back home in the middle of a winter snowstorm. My grandmother is the type of driver to go a bit over the speed limit which is a danger in itself, especially on icy roads. My mother had no way of directions to get home so she, too, was speeding in order to stay caught up with my grandmother. The tire hit a section of black ice, spinning the car off the road and into the nearby ditch. As a child who was peacefully sleeping in the backseat of the car, waking up to the turning motion and seeing the car off the road, was a haunting experience. I’ve always said to myself that I would never let that happen to me in the future, but sometimes it’s not our fault for the accident. One of my biggest frustrations is seeing young teens who have just acquired their license, recording themselves whilst driving to brag to their friends rather than focusing on the road. 

The top five reasons for car crashes are distracted driving, drunk driving, breaking the speed limit, reckless driving, and driving in bad weather conditions. Everyone can go through hours upon hours of Driver’s Education classes and still decide to text and drive, or drink before driving, or simply speeding to make it to work on time. Any driver can admit to some form of bad driving in their experience as a driver. So rather than asking the question how, should we be asking who? Would it be better to decide who is capable of driving or how people should be driving? 

Unfortunately, accidents will always happen no matter the precautions. Everyone can be the most observant driver they can possibly be, yet, another person can be the cause for the accident. Even as technology is advancing and self-driving cars are being programmed, who’s to say accidents will cease entirely? “According to the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, almost 94% of accidents on US roads occur due to human error, so self-driving vehicles could drastically reduce the number of crashes and fatalities that occur on the roads today” (Lori). Even if self-driving cars became the go-to vehicle, would everyone be convinced to switch over to the newer cars?