Safer Driving- Awareness and Attitude

SAFER DRIVING THROUGH ATTITUDE AND AWARENESS

Craig Francis

10246 Doncastle Ct.

Mechanicsville, VA 23116

Safe driving is more than just a method or a statistic, it is our responsibility to society. Good drivers ed and training is important, but we also need a paradigm shift where every driver bases their decisions on concern for other drivers. Today, most people think of accidents in terms of cost and inconvenience to themselves and not the disaster they can impose on others’ lives. Driving while distracted or impaired might result in a fender bender for you, but meanwhile a family is devastated after losing a loved one – – and through no fault of their own.

I believe our driver-education choices in the U.S. are excellent and accessible, but the courses need to focus more on attitude. In my drivers’ ed class, the instruction was mostly on the mechanics of how to operate the machine. The lessons need to stress that the goal of driving is to arrive safely, and not selecting music, checking messages, or reading a map.

Leaving from high school one day, a distracted driver rammed the car in front of her, causing a cascade of six cars to crash; I was number three. As a result, I was required to take an 8-hour online training class, and it actually was a huge benefit! It explained proper following distances and gave examples of when and how accidents most likely occur. It was empowering, and I feel like a much smarter driver now. I would recommend that every driver be required to take a similar course every five years to stay fresh and current with safety awareness, which would also help make that shift towards a focus on others. The DMV could make it a requirement for license renewal.

Another step to reduce deaths would be to increase penalties for reckless driving. While it might be illegal now to use a hand-held device while driving, I’ve never heard of it being enforced. I think people should lose their license at the first offense of texting. And people who drive with a suspended license should do jail time. In traffic court, I have seen people with multiple suspensions and DUI’s walk out with no real penalty. Will they hit the streets again and cause a fatality? Without a real deterrent, people will continue to do it – – and they are, because I still see plenty of texters on the road today.

For myself, I could certainly fiddle with my music less. I always set my playlist before starting to drive, but I still make changes mid-way. It would certainly be better to listen to a few bad songs rather than cause an accident for me or my fellow drivers. If I’m focused on the road and what other cars are doing, I can anticipate and make smart moves that will make it safer for other drivers too. If our priority is looking out for each other and not getting distracted, traffic fatalities would decrease immensely.