A Statistical Emotional Appeal

I grew up with parents that impressed upon me the consequences of reckless driving. My mom’s brother, an uncle I never met, died when he was 18, right before his high school graduation. On his way home from a party with friends late one night, his Jeep flipped, throwing his friends and him from the vehicle. The Jeep rolled down a hill, towards my uncle, where it ultimately crushed him. My mom, in 6th grade at the time, relays to my siblings and me that the experience was one that opened her eyes to the reality of the world.

My parents also speak of traveling up towards Farmington, NM with college friends over fall break, and the traumatic accident that impacted each of the individuals there. My parents’ friends in the car following theirs attempted to switch drivers while the vehicle was moving. Unfortunately, the wheel was jerked wildly off the road in the movement. The accident resulted in an emergency leg amputation for one girl and death for another. My dad was the one who identified the body and speaks about how it will always be an image burned into his mind. Every time my parents tell these stories, they impress upon us the severity of adolescent immaturity and flippancy when driving. 

Most people act as if they are invincible to the everyday statistics and regulations of the road. Car accidents occur regularly every day, yet most people believe that such disasters could never happen to them. As a child, I was always shocked by the intimate role my parents played in these stories. Now, knowing the statistics, I believe that widespread knowledge of them is the first step to reducing accidents and reckless driving on the road. 

According to the CDC, about 90 people die in a car crash in the US every day. Teen drivers are the highest at-risk drivers according to autos.com and saferamerica.com reports that in 2019, 38,800 people died in car accidents in the US alone. Distracted driving is an easy temptation to oblige, and putting your cell phone out of reach reduces the justifications of “it will be really quick.” Cell phone usage is by far one of the most disobeyed rules of driving, as according to Carsurance.net, a whopping 1/4 of all accidents are in some way the fault of a cell phone. Carsurance.net goes on to say that 11 teenagers die every day because of texting while driving. According to simplyinsurance.com, when you text and drive, you are 24 times more likely to crash. Distracted driving also touches on having additional passengers in your vehicle. According to a study done by aaafoundation.org, among teens 16 and 17 years of age, having another passenger in your car under the age of 21 increases your risk of getting in an accident by 44%. This statistic doubles when carrying two passengers under 21, and quadruples when carrying 3 or more passengers under 21. Policyadvice.net reports that 9 people die every day due to distracted driving. According to a report, speeding is involved in 1/3 of motor crashing fatalities, and is a factor in 31% of teen driving fatalities. Wearing a seatbelt increases your survival rate if you were to get in a crash by 47%, according to nhtsa.gov. Yet according to the CDC, despite their inexperience and recent instruction of these statistics through drivers ed, teens are the least likely to wear a seat belt of all other age groups.  The CDC additionally claims that more than half of teens (aged 13-19) and adults (aged 20-44) that died in accidents were unbuckled.  Finally, alcohol and drug use is, unfortunately, a critical issue when combined with driving, as the CDC reports that in 2016, 10,497 people died because of alcohol intoxication while driving. The CDC also reports that drugs are involved in 16% of motor vehicle crashes. 

These statistics are shocking and terrifying, especially when one considers the risks that they’ve flippantly disregarded in the past. Statistically, it is important to remind drivers that there are numerous driving principles and habits that can both increase and decrease their odds of survival. That statistical education is crucial to the development of safer and less deadly roads in America. These principles not only urge self-discipline and self-control but also seek to inspire understanding about the realities and dangers of reckless driving.  However, they are merely one piece of the puzzle. Statistics such as these are used throughout driver’s education and can be seen on build boards and ads regularly, but nothing had impacted me as much as the personal first-hand accounts of my parents. Their brutal honestly and personal testimony has affected how I drive every time I get behind the wheel. I frequently ask them to share their stories with my friends as a reminder of the dangers of the road. While driver’s ed does a phenomenal job of replicating personal testimony through videos, those films fade with time. Ultimately crash videos and horrific stories are rendered as ineffective as news coverage, especially a couple of years down the road. Society is numb to horrific accidents unless they hit close to the heart. The necessary second step to statistical education is emotional and engaging repeated and regular personal testimony.

Hopefully, knowledge about the dangers of driving and the necessity of putting the odds in your favor when starting your engine will allow for defensive driving and cautious drivers as time goes on. With the startling statistics and the all too painful consequences of ignoring them, we can only seek to advocate for education and competency in driving.

Bibliography

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