Driver’s Safety: The Collection of Small Solutions to Solve a Big Problem

Turning 16 is one of the keystone ages in the US, as it is the age where America’s youth can become independent. Driving opens the doors for new drivers to have the freedom of going anywhere at virtually any time, this opens a lot more career, social, and creative opportunities. Beyond the excitement and independence, new drivers may feel anxious or frustrated when starting to drive. The Drivers Ed curriculum must acknowledge the new driver’s feelings and look for solutions by improving the curriculum and creating diverse resources for students. While this may not ensure that the driver will be 100% safe, investing in multiple avenues that improve roads by 1% can add up to 15 or 20% safer roads.

Time and effort must be invested in creating multimedia resources; this will give all types of learners visual, audio, writing, and experience-based tools. The curriculum should be made by diverse staff, as they have the opinion and represent their background. This would help to create an engaging curriculum and highlight the more important aspects of the rules of the road. Drivers education curriculum must be honest and teach the small social queues that come with driving; this includes hand queues, highway etiquette, GPS or any mapping device, and car maintenance etiquette. These social cues may vary from the area of driving and should be exposed to new drivers, this includes showing social cues in urban and rural areas. Overall these changes prevent miscommunication and improve traffic flow.

Safety is the most important aspect of the driving experience, as it saves lives and makes the roads more peaceful. Drivers must be made aware of the process and effects of car accidents, which includes more taboo topics such as whiplash, medical bills, and insurance coverages. By exposing drivers to these realities, then many individuals will take driver safety seriously and prevent misconceptions from flourishing. Campaigns should follow different avenues of preventing car accidents, highlighting and putting more resources on “normalized” dangerous activities. These activities may include eating, watching a video, and being on the phone while driving. All of these activities have been normalized and more statistics should be presented to drivers to encourage them to break these dangerous habits.

The normalization of bad habits causes drivers to make excuses on why they shouldn’t change. For example, many intoxicated drivers may think “well I’ve never been in an accident while drinking, so I can continue to drive intoxicated”. This thought process can also be applied to other more normalized aspects of reckless driving and anyone can fall victim to this thought process. Not too long ago I had a similar thought process about Facetiming while driving, as I have a phone stand and BlueTooth speakers in my car. I thought that these precautions were enough, but I was later proved wrong. This video chat app uses auditory, visual, and cognitive capabilities to effectively communicate with the other person on the video call. This limits the driver’s sensorial abilities and makes the driver less prone to be focused on the road. Unfortunately, I almost hit a cyclist due to being distracted on facetime while driving. Thankfully no one got physically hurt, but there was still emotional damage. The cyclist was very upset and scared, while I felt extremely guilty. After this incident, I have never accepted a facetime while driving.

Despite knowing the rules of the road, I live in an environment that encourages speeding. Most of my friends and family would laugh at me for driving at most 5 miles per hour higher than the speed limit. Through peer pressure, I found that I slowly started driving faster and recklessly. Unfortunately, this bad driving habit ended up costing me a lot financially and emotionally. One morning I was driving to class and the car in front of me stopped abruptly, due to my speed being higher 10 miles per hour faster than the speed limit, I ended up rear-ending the car in front of me. The normalization of speeding is dangerous and must be campaigned to spread awareness of the danger. I no longer speed when I drive and maintain a long-distance behind the car.

In conclusion, various small changes and initiatives make a big difference. Three people per day die in car accidents in Illinois, while 20% of them are due to drunk driving. Little changes in habits and mindsets can add up to making the road significantly more safe. This is even more prevalent during these difficult times. An article published in the Chicago Tribune explains that deadly accidents had risen 16% from 2019 to 2020. This number is expected to rise due to the pandemic causing an education gap with students, and fewer expert drivers know the rules of the road.

Bibliography:

Bonilla, L. (2021, February 13). More people died on Illinois roads last year than since 2007. is the pandemic to blame? chicagotribune.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-illinois-more-traffic-deaths-pandemic-20210212-4ybopm6pvbelpeorspd3cxm7gy-htmlstory.html

Illinois car accident statistics. Chicago Car Accident Lawyers. (2021, October 28). Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://chicagocaraccidentlawyer.com/illinois-car-accident-statistics/