Driving Through the Dangers

You don’t need to experience a car accident to know how fatal they actually are. Nationwide, 115 drivers that go to work will never return (Missouri Highway Patrol). Think about that cruel statistic. As a field worker for Truckee Meadow Community College’s IT department, commuting is a necessity to get to other campuses. However, most people do not recognize gratitude every time they exit their car safely. Most accidents come from DWI/DUIs, skidding, failure to yield, and speeding. Before I took IT’s company car, I went through a concourse presentation regarding defensive driving and aggressive driving. While it can, in the beginning, seem worthless and boring, these presentations truly save lives. This six-hour driver education course saved me from the burden of aggressive drivers and a multitude of accidents. These presentations, thankfully, emphasize the failure of yielding, as it is a leading cause of accidents. The importance of driver education is focused here, since relearning how to yield prevents collisions during 4-way stops, u-turns during an intersection, and right-turns on reds. By learning to properly yield, approximately 15% of automobile accidents can be prevented, which is around 18,00 people per year. Likewise, to reduce these numbers drivers must enforce strict protocol when driving such as: looking at your blind spots, ignoring aggressive drivers, properly maintaining your car, and yielding to pedestrians or cyclists. Obviously, drivers must also follow the right of way to maintain a safe driving environment. Remember, that swerving between traffic lanes barely and rarely decreases your destination arrival time by seconds or minutes, depending on distance (data obtained from MythBusters, ep. 221). Common ways to prevent specific accident types are by overviewing driving safety, defensive driving, and aggressive driving presentations.

Preventatively, the basics of driving safety encompass vehicle safety features and the questioning of how safe our roads actually are. Unbeknownst to many, driving is the most endangering activity of our daily lives, that we face on a daily basis. From a recent testimony, it is noted that one driver, a manager from a redacted company, started a business trip by shaving while driving. Upon shaving and looking into his rearview mirror, the manager saw, in his peripheral vision, someone cut in front of him. Since reaction time is, on average, around 273 milliseconds, the driver reacted by forcefully and sharply steering to the right and hitting a tree. This front-end collision resulted in a broken rib cage. No shave, view, or any activity is worth a life or broken- “anything.” Some discerning driving habits include but are not limited to shaving, reading, not using a seatbelt, driving under influence, driving at unsafe speeds, tailgating, and not using blinkers. While many don’t realize, a rule of thumb for driving is to ensure there are safe driving conditions. When going out to drive you should be aware of unsafe conditions like poor visibility (i.e. fog), improver vehicular maintenance, or road conditions (i.e. slippery surfaces).

Aside from common driving basics, drivers should also be fluent in knowing how to prevent aggressive driving and how to ignore aggressors. Also known as “road raging,” aggressive driving comes from unsafe driving habits. According to AAA, incidents of aggressive driving have increased by 7% every year since 1990. Likewise, 2019’s AAA data displays that 80% of drivers experienced or expressed significant anger while driving or road rage while driving in the past 30 days. Obviously, aggressive driving behavior roots from anger as the main cause of the problem. However, many ways to calm aggressive drivers are to ignore visible obscene gestures from one another or let them pass by/through. Ensure your own safety, so if need be, try to reduce the pressure of an aggressive driver by getting out of the way. Steps to spot drivers that exhibit aggressive driving tactics are those that switch lanes quickly/or very close behind another car (57 million drivers), those that drive 15mph over the speed limit (48%; 106 million drivers), or those that make rude gestures or over honk at drivers (32%; 71 million drivers). As previously stated, certain preventative measures include maintaining adequate following distance, using turn signals, allowing others to merge, using high beam responsibility, and being considerate of other drivers.

Clearly, driving can be a scary place for all drivers involved. However, with driver’s education, it is noted that drivers, as a community, can take preventative measures to ensure the safety of others and themselves. Every time you get in your car, make sure it is properly maintained, and know that it is a blessing to get out of your car safely. By taking these measures and being educated on safe driving, and aggressive driving, the harsh statistics that follow us can be gradually less and less, with more cautious driving. Hopefully, everyone sees this as an invocation to improve driving abilities and become a better and safer driver as well as helping others become safer on the road.