“In the Driver’s Seat” Essay

In 2021 alone, 42,915 people died in traffic accidents. With the exception of falling and poisoning, that is more than all of the other preventable causes of death in America combined! (NHTSA, “Top 10”) Each year, thousands of people die from irresponsible choices made on the roadway. Luckily, until 2020 the number of deaths was on the decline; however, since the beginning of the pandemic, traffic deaths have shockingly been on the rise. (“Risky”) This is due to an increase in distracted and impaired driving, which was initially caused by a lack of proper law enforcement. When drivers realized that they could get away with much more reckless driving and not pay the price for it, they began pushing more limits — going farther over the speed limit, ignoring other drivers, and even driving while under the influence more often. The statistics show that, despite law enforcement’s rebound to pre-Covid levels of discipline, people have not lost their defiant attitudes towards traffic police, and this has in turn caused the increase in traffic deaths we see today. (“Risky”)

Proper driving education in today’s bustling world is undoubtedly of paramount importance to keeping people safe on the roads. There is a very good reason it is not easy to get one’s driver’s license in America, and that is because driving is a complicated task, that requires intense focus and complicated cognitive processing of one’s surroundings. Furthermore, knowing how to operate one’s vehicle to the best of their abilities and learning about the driving habits of others — through segments on road rage and driving under the influence in typical driver’s education programs — puts the educated individual at a much safer position on the roadway, being neither dangerous to their passengers nor to the drivers around them.

One study from the National Institute of Health has shown that driver’s education may not, however, be the key to improving the safety of the roadways. In this study, it was concluded that, while driver’s education did have an immeasurable impact on a baseline safety of drivers, there’s not much more education can do to prevent people from, for example, abusing substances and then proceeding to operate a vehicle. (Akbari et al.) In order to prevent future fatalities, not only do we as a population need to regain what respect we lost for law enforcement in 2020, but law enforcement also needs to be more strict. Furthermore, other more basic components of driving also should be addressed, such as maintaining proper and adequate safety within the infrastructure (potholes, collapsing bridges, construction on expressways, etc.). Without safe roads, we can’t be expected to be the safest either. The last contributing factor that needs to be addressed would of course be alcohol and drugs. Under no circumstances is operating a vehicle under the influence as safe as operating while sober. In America, one person dies approximately every forty-five minutes due to a drunk-driving collision. That’s over thirty people every day. (“Drunk”) Of course, there is no easy way to combat this, other than to increase education on the risks of substance abuse, and continue to train our law enforcement to do their jobs the best they can, in the interest of saving innocent lives every day.

I personally have been affected multiple times by drunk driving. My own step-brother hit a deer while on a crotch-rocket after leaving the bar “buzzed”, and by some miracle he only had a broken arm and a couple bruises to show for it. He was lucky, since he had already gotten in a life-threatening motorcycle accident about five years prior, which split his brain down the middle and left him in the ICU for six months. His fiancé was not so lucky. On another account, my father’s best friend in the whole world — they grew up together, graduated high school together, and eventually he was my dad’s best man in his wedding — died unexpectedly one night after being violently ejected from the vehicle while going a speed that would’ve ended him up in jail, had he been caught. Though it is needless to say, he was also under the influence. Last but certainly not least, is the story that personally affected me the most. One evening on a not-so-fateful St. Patrick’s Day, my father got an urgent call from my step-mother. Two minutes later he was running across the house yelling, “We need to go! NOW!” Ten-year-old me had no clue what had happened, but I knew it wasn’t good. After a very long and quiet half-hour, we arrived at the scene, where I saw my step-mother’s Buick, an unrecognizable heap of metal, piled up only feet from the base of a massive oak that could have undoubtedly ended someone’s life, had the collision happened a half-second later. Everyone involved — my step-mother and younger step-sister, whom I dearly care for — seemed to be okay (if you don’t count the trauma gained from this experience). I later learned that a drunk driver had swerved over the centerline, creating a head-on collision, which continued down the side of the car. My step-sister’s head was resting right up against the window as she was taking a nap, and if it wasn’t for her not being hit, emergency services would have never been called, since my step-mother was trapped inside. Fortunately everyone made it out fine, but the criminal was never caught, and I knew from then on: drunk driving was no joke.

As someone who has seen the dangers of reckless driving time and time again, I know that safe driving isn’t only beneficial to me, but to every other driver too. I make it my priority to follow the laws and drive responsibly, and to also clearly communicate my intentions with other drivers. All it takes is for one wrong impression on someone, and you may find yourself in a collision moments later. Another aspect of driving I am careful of, as I have seen it first-hand as well, is road rage. As something everyone’s experienced, I know it is so very important for my own safety and for the safety of those around me that I never once let that interfere with how I operate my vehicle. Safe driving is a complex and often difficult task, but it is necessary that everyone is properly educated on the risks of driving before putting themselves in a situation that could cost them their own lives and the lives of those around them.

Works Cited

1. Akbari, Maryam, et al. “Is Driver Education Contributing towards Road Safety? A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews.” Journal of Injury & Violence Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8142340/.

2. “Drunk Driving.” NHTSA, https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving.

3. NHTSA. “Newly Released Estimates Show Traffic Fatalities Reached a 16-Year High in 2021.” NHTSA, NHTSA, 17 May 2022, https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/early-estimate-2021-traffic-fatalities.

4. “Risky Driving Has Likely Contributed to Uptick in Fatal Car Crashes.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 22 Aug. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fatal-car-crash-increase-risky-driving-rcna43969.

5. “Top 10 Preventable Injuries 2021.” Injury Facts, 1 Mar. 2023, https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/deaths-by-demographics/top-10-preventable-injuries/.