Increasing Traffic Safety

I can recall several occasions where I have almost been hit by careless drivers, all prevented only because I consider myself a safe driver. I am aware of my surroundings and I was able to quickly react and hit my brakes before a collision occurred. However, not all drivers always drive safely, therefore causing the approximate 34,000 deaths each year. According to figures from Wikipedia and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provided by DmvEdu.org, driving in just seven years (2005-2012) has caused more deaths than American deaths in the American Civil War, Revolutionary War, Iraq War, War of 1812, War in Afghanistan, and Mexican-American War combined. In order to reduce this number, multiple things can be done, more vigorous driving tests and enforcing laws involving phone usage while driving.

Driver education is extremely important in reducing driving deaths since driver education is the most important part of driving. If a person does not know the rules of the road, they simply cannot drive. Knowledge of things such as various road signs, yielding rules, intersections and more are all required to drive. Almost all of my near accidents were caused because of people who were not aware of these things. I was almost hit at a roundabout where someone did not yield to me while I was inside the roundabout. I was almost hit by someone at a stop sign twice because they either did not see the stop sign or did not see me; regardless, the people were not paying enough attention to their surroundings. All of these issues could be solved through more vigorous driving tests.

When I took my driving test as a sophomore in high school, I was extremely nervous that I would fail, and I was scared of what the instructor might make me do. However, the extent of my test was driving down a few back roads, parallel parking with about five feet of extra space on both the front and back, and driving back to where I started. All of these places had little to no traffic; I saw one or two other cars during the entirety of my test. I never thought I would be complaining about a test being too easy. However, with my safety at risk, I want the people driving around me to have the proper experience with driving. This can be changed by adding highway driving, city driving, fairly uncommon intersection encounters such as roundabouts and diverging diamonds, driving on narrow roads, and driving in traffic to all driving tests.

These issues can also be solved through enforcing laws involving phone usage while driving. According to The Zebra, 14% of fatal crashes involved cell phones, and 4,637 people died in crashes in 2018 due to cell phone or other electronic device usage. Cell phone usage while driving is a major problem with many young people, contributing to about one seventh of all fatal crashes. This can be reduced by enforcing texting-while-driving laws. Fortunately, laws are already being made to prevent this. According to the Sumner Law Group, “Under Missouri law, anyone 21 or younger is prohibited from sending, reading, or writing a text message while driving. Furthermore, regardless of age, anyone operating a semi-truck or another commercial vehicle is not allowed to send, read, or write a text message while behind the wheel” (Sumner, 2022). One thing that can be done to further prevent driving deaths is expanding the restriction of phone usage while driving to anyone of any age. Although some adults may be more responsible and able to more safely use their phone while driving, the best way to approach zero driving deaths due to texting is to ban texting while driving for all ages.

As for personal experiences with accidents, I have never actually been in an accident, but there have been some close calls as explained earlier and I was involved in a fender bender a few years ago. My mother was driving and we were at the front of the line at a stop light that had just turned green. Any other driver would have started driving without another thought, and that would have likely gotten them killed in this scenario. My mom carefully looked both ways before slowly proceeding past the white line into the intersection, just as I do now specifically because of this incident. Just as we were about to fully enter the intersection, a man coming from the road perpendicular to us blew through his red light, nearly hitting us. The collision only resulted in minor scrapes and cuts on our car and our license plate being flung into the intersection. This man was going well over the speed limit and was likely using his phone. Had my mom not been as careful as she was, it is likely that neither she nor I would still be alive today. After almost getting killed by a careless driver that day (who then proceeded to try to pass the blame onto us), I promised to myself that I will be a safe driver and I will never put anyone in that situation I was in.

If someone wants to be a safer driver, there are multiple steps they can take. The first step they can take is to be informed about driving laws. Another step can be putting these laws into context on the road with sufficient practice. Having a responsible, licensed driver in the car with you any time you go anywhere can be very helpful if you have questions, comments, or if you need help. A third step they can take is being responsible on the road. This can mean using your headlights when required so that other drivers can easily see you, turning your fog lights off at night when approaching other drivers so as to not accidentally impair their vision, signaling consistently and early to let drivers react to your turns, and other general courtesies on the road. If every driver does all of these things, then we as a community can reduce, or even stop, driving deaths.

Work Cited

Sumner, Brent. “Is It Illegal to Text and Drive in Missouri?: Sumner Law.” Sumner Law Group, LLC, Sumner Law Group, LLC, 3 Nov. 2022, https://www.sumnerlawgroup.com/blog/is-it-illegal-text-drive-missouri/.

“Texting & Driving Statistics in 2023.” The Zebra, https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/texting-and-driving-statistics/.

TTAC Staff. “U.S. Highway Fatalities Rose in 2012 on Increased Motorcycle, Pedestrian Deaths.” Thetruthaboutcars.com, Ttac, 18 Nov. 2013, https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/11/u-s-highway-fatalities-rose-in-2012-on-increased-motorcycle-pedestrian-deaths/.

“United States Military Casualties of War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Mar. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war.