Your car is a weapon

Your car is a weapon. It doesn’t matter if you drive a Hummer or a Nissan LEAF. The cars you drive or ride in are several-ton hunks of metal traveling along the road at speeds averaging 40 to 50 miles per hour. We have decided, as a society, that it is okay for us to operate these death machines if we are properly trained and licensed too. Unfortunately, many drivers on the road treat their car like a toy and do not respect the safety of pedestrians and other drivers. 

The easiest way to reduce traffic deaths is to drive less. Not to say that no one should ever drive, but if you’re young and healthy, you don’t need to drive 3 blocks to your neighbor’s house. Walking, biking, and taking public transportation all inarguably reduce traffic deaths. However, in our car-dependent world, a car serves as a lifeline for many people to get to work, school, and other necessary parts of their lives. 

Since we can’t immediately move away from cars, and the transition to more sustainable and safe transportation is going to take time, the question is, what do we do in the meantime to reduce collisions and traffic deaths? One way to do this would be to reduce the speed limit on residential streets. If a pedestrian is hit by a car traveling at 10 miles per hour, the pedestrian will likely be hurt, if a pedestrian is struck by a car traveling at 70 miles per hour, the pedestrian will likely die. Even the difference between 30 and 35 miles per hour is substantial. Speed limits are reduced to 20 miles per hour in school zones, but schools are not the only places where children are at risk of being hit by a car. Especially when some have cars that don’t allow pedestrians of certain heights to be seen, it’s important to reduce our driving speeds. It’s also more fuel efficient and better for the environment. 

Another solution is to enforce distracted driving and seatbelt laws. It is proven that wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of traffic fatalities. According to the National Highway Transit Safety Administration, seatbelts reduced traffic deaths by almost 330,000. Drivers also must pay attention while driving. You cannot pay attention to the steering wheel, the curvature of the road, pedestrians, or other cars if you are texting or doing anything on your phone while behind the wheel. If you don’t pay attention to the road, it’s easy to accidentally kill or injure someone or yourself. Furthermore, you should never drive drunk or high, you are not in the right state of mind to operate a machine. 

You also should not drive while tired or angry. Falling asleep at the wheel is incredibly dangerous, and road rage is a serious problem. People on the road can get on your nerves, and if you lose your cool, you’re not in a good state of mind to operate something that can kill people easily. 

What it boils down to is being thoughtful and compassionate to others while operating a motor vehicle. Your desire to get somewhere fast is not as important as the safety of pedestrians and other drivers, as well as yourself. As a society, we are lacking in compassion and thoughtfulness for others, and that issue plays out on our roads. Drivers near my school drag race and speed along the city’s main avenue, waking up students late at night and putting people in danger of fatal collisions. And again, when those drivers, as selfish as their behavior is, behave this way on the roads, they put themselves in danger as well, and I do not want them to be hurt either. 

So, in conclusion, although it would be nice to imagine a world that doesn’t have to rely on vehicles like cars that clog up our roads and pollute our skies, we aren’t there yet. Although it’s a worthwhile idea to pursue, and we should be expanding public transit as well as building walkable cities that are accessible for the disabled and elderly, as well as those who can’t afford to or don’t want to drive, in the meantime, we should encourage compassionate, thoughtful, and attentive driving skills. We should enforce speeding and distracted driving laws, but we should not just punish the bad behavior. We should encourage and cultivate good driving skills by teaching driving students to be attentive and thoughtful on the road and continue to encourage that kind of behavior when we see others exhibit it. 

Safe driving will reduce fatalities, reduce traffic congestion, and reduce emissions. It’s a win-win-win situation.