In the driver’s seat.

Driver education is fundamental to avoid road accidents. Many of them occur because of carelessness or lack of knowledge of the rules. For this reason, it is essential to educate people, especially children, on this subject. Children who receive road safety education will not only be less exposed to the risk of having any type of accident, but they will also become responsible adults and aware of the rules. They will be aware and considerate drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and passengers. But whose responsibility is it to educate children about traffic? Parents often think that others will do it or that the school will do it. But it’s best not to wait for that to happen, since driver education for children is also the responsibility of parents. This driver education will help children learn the norms of living together and the proper rules for safer mobility. They will also know the possible consequences of doing things wrong, as well as the benefits of doing them right. This, without a doubt, will determine their behavior in the future. Moreover, steps can be taken in order to prevent accidents, steps like: avoid distracted driving, don’t drive buzzed, watch your speed, don’t follow too closely, wear your seat belt and I can go on and on because there’s so many ways to get into a road accident. What to keep in mind is that wether you are driving a car, riding a motorcycle, a scooter, a bicycle or even on a walk. Speeding, alcohol, fatigue, phone calls, are all dangers to be faced every day. To avoid putting yourself or other road users in danger, good reflexes are to be adopted. Anticipation is one of the key words on the road: you must always try to anticipate the reactions and possible errors of other users. In general, you must always take into account all the users with whom you share the road and try to imagine what can happen in the seconds to come.

I myself have witnessed a near-death experience. My friend Carla is highly addicted to her phone. She be texting or watching a video on her phone while she drives. As usual, I be trying to convince her that it’s a bad idea and she should stay focus on the road so we don’t get into an accident, but she always hit me with “ it will not happen to us” line. The very second after she said that, we almost crash into another car. That’s crazy how 3 seconds of inattention could cost us our lives. That’s crazy how a “ it will not happen to us” can go to a “ is it really happening? To avoid a road accident, we must ban all distractors: the cell phone while driving is becoming a major risk on our roads. No matter who the user is, any action disturbs our driving. As long as the user has not had a traffic accident while using his or her mobile phone, the user does not imagine that this action can harm him or her. For some people, it is impossible to believe in the possibility of an accident, which creates a strong belief that is difficult to change. Reading or writing a text message, a post on social networks, or just browsing through emails, have become trivial gestures in everyone’s daily life. However, they can turn out to be dramatic when they are done while driving.

Fortunately, traffic accidents are predictable and can be prevented. Sweden’s “Vision Zero” and the Netherlands’ Sustainable Safety Program are examples of good road safety practices, and these practices can have other benefits as well. They can encourage healthier lifestyles, such as walking more or cycling more. They can also help reduce the noise and air pollution that results from automobile traffic. Over the past two decades, many high-income countries have achieved significant reductions in crashes and fatalities because they have adopted a systems approach to road safety that emphasizes interventions that target the environment, vehicles, and road users, rather than focusing solely on behavior change. The solutions for low and middle-income countries may be different from those appropriate for countries that have been motorized for a longer period of time, but the basic principles are the same. These include good road design and traffic management, better vehicle standards, speed limits, seat belt use, and enforcement of blood alcohol limits. The challenge is to adapt existing solutions and evaluate them or find new ones in low- and middle-income countries. That being said, the question should be “What steps can we take to be better and safer drivers than what steps can you take.” Which implies, stop focusing solely on personal behavior change.