What Can We Do To Save Lives?

As a new driver, I am still fairly nervous when driving. Even though I have never been injured in a car accident, I have been in two separate wrecks in the past year, and one was caused because a driver was not paying attention to the road.

Being a driver you are not just responsible for your safety and the safety of your passengers, but you are also responsible for ensuring you are doing everything in your power to keep everyone traveling on the road safe. Imagine if it was your family on the road; you would not want someone putting your spouse’s, child’s, or parent’s life in danger just to get their morning donut faster. So why should you put other people’s lives in danger? A life is not worth getting to work on time or avoiding missing the exit. If people were more knowledgeable about how to stay safe on the roads, the amount of deaths caused by careless drivers could be reduced.

Sometimes accidents happen: a car hits some ice, brakes fail, and other unfortunate disasters that are out of anyone’s control. With knowledge obtained from driver’s education, you can learn how to react in these situations and decrease the risk of injury and death. In addition to having mandatory driver’s education classes, permit holders should also be required to take a defensive driving course so they are prepared with the knowledge of how to react when they lose control of their car. Though some may be against the idea of having to participate in this course, it will better prepare them for what they could experience on the road.

Besides improving the way drivers are educated, improvements to the roads itself could decrease the yearly death rate. For example, by increasing the width of the lanes drivers’ comfort level while driving will increase and make it safer for larger vehicles such as trucks and trailers to maneuver turns. Many times drivers attempt to cross multiple lanes to keep from missing their exit. This risky, but common, behavior can lead to accidents to harm not just the driver but others that are driving on the road as well. Instead of expanding the width of roads to add more lanes that drivers need to cross over, let’s expand the width of each individual lane.

In addition, more space on the side of the road would decrease the danger of stopping if something were to happen. During one of the accidents I was in, we pulled to the side of a busy road we had been driving on. The car had just enough space to pull fully off the road but there was only a couple inches between our car and the ones going eighty miles an hour past us. At any point and time an irresponsible and careless driver could have gotten too close to our car and smashed into us. By creating more room for cars to stop on the side of the road, in emergency situations, the more injuries and deaths that could be prevented.

Accidents can also be prevented by improving aspects of the car. If cars were required to have sensors that would sense the presence of another car in front of it and stop itself before a collision could occur. One of the accidents I was involved in was caused by another driver, who was not paying attention and did not notice we stopped. If the driver would have sensors in his car, the car would have sensed that it was getting close to us and stopped. Other helpful sensors include blind spot sensors which signal whenever there is a car next to you that might not be visible in the driver’s mirrors. These prevent any accidents while merging.

Though I am a very cautious driver there is still more I could do to help become an even safer driver and help others stay safe as well. I can continue to follow the rules of the road and make sure that I never drive when I am ever in a situation that would impair my driving: alcohol intoxication or exhaustion. I should also always try to be respectful towards other drivers. I always try to make it easier for other cars to merge onto the highway, because I know from experience that merging can be intimidating with many cars speeding past. If I see another car is trying to merge I move into the other lane so they have room to switch lanes. It is our duty as drivers to make sure that everyone makes it to their destination safely, so why not make the drive easier for others if we can.