The Cause and Effect of Bad Driving

Many people learn how to drive via experience and informal education only, sometimes lacking instruction in some of the important specifics. While these are invaluable resources in getting on the road, there is always more structured information to gain. Many potential drivers learn from an individuals biased ideas of how to navigate driving and their interpretation of the rules, which can be in direct conflict with the ideas of other drivers they will encounter on the road. This can lead to reacting in ways that are unexpected to other drivers and then cause problems or accidents.

A formal Driver’s Education course can help immensely with getting students up to speed on how to behave while driving and what to expect from others. If more people took similarly structured driver’s education classes, then there would be more drivers who are on the same page on the road. These are all things that can help traffic go more smoothly and avoid needless deaths.

As a child I was in several car accidents due to reckless driving at the other parties fault. There were no injuries but some lasting health issues. I have also been in several car wrecks as a young teenager, before I knew what drivers were acceptable to get in the car with. I had dropped out of high school, was homeless and did not have a lot of knowledge on what ethical driving was. I also did not have a lot of options but to get in cars that I knew would not be safe to get to the places I needed to survive. I learned what to tolerate from the people around me, and they were not responsible people. None of these resulted in injuries or damages beyond the car I was in, but they had the potential to be far worse than they were.

I regret allowing myself into these situations and have used these events to learn what is acceptable driving, what is not, and what I will stand up against when I see people making poor decisions. I no longer speak to people who I see driving while intoxicated, or even drivers who text if they don’t stop when I ask. Experiencing and understanding consequences, such as losing a friend because they won’t tolerate unsafe behaviors, is an important step to breaking the habit of selfish driving. It’s unfair to so many people who are forced to experience managing the unsafe situations caused by others and to also be the ones facing the consequences when a situation is unable to be avoided.

It’s important to speak up when we see people about to get on the road intoxicated, tired, angry or otherwise in a state that is hazardous while operating a vehicle. It shouldn’t have to take a personal tragedy for people to understand potential consequences and develop the empathy required to want to avoid an all too common outcome. I think that some way of getting through to people on how to care about others and themselves would be a good step to ensuring safer roads for everyone. More steps could be to take the initiative to become informed on proper driving techniques and remember to always expect the unexpected and make sure that we are always able to react accordingly.

Another important step would be offering educational resources to people who may not have ways of accessing them or knowing about them in the first place. Driving has become more of a necessity these days and the ability to learn to do so safely for free or at very low-cost would be a great way to reduce incidents. In addition, common root causes of people driving intoxicated, angry or tired are addiction and poverty. These have a massive impact on mood, ability to focus and decision-making. Being tired from work, addiction to alcohol and drugs because of mental health issues stemming from poverty and oppression, and stress are huge contributors to the decisions that can ultimately end in dangerous conditions on the road. There is no simple or easy solution to this but it is something that I believe needs be thought about and worked on to change in the world, for more reasons than just driving.

In conclusion, in order for the roads to become safer for all, drivers need the real world skills of building empathy and a deeper understanding of how much their actions are likely to impact others. Most important, in my opinion, is improving the conditions of poverty that lead to the factors of mood, energy and sobriety. It also affects the time, money and ease of access of resources in learning driving.a