Importance of Safe Driving

In the United States alone, there are over 6 million car accidents per year on average. Even more frightening, these result in more than 38,000 people losing their lives per year, which would put car crashes up with some of the leading causes of death in the country.

Driver’s education plays a massive part in reducing said numbers, because it’s essentially a ‘how to’ guide that teaches down to the detail and helps new drivers learn how to navigate better. While learning how to drive via quizzes and tests is much different than actually driving, it can help one feel much more confident in their driving and give them the knowledge they need to drive safely. I remember feeling extremely anxious about driving, but during drive times when I began picking up on things I had learned from drivers ed as well as the guidance from the adult I drove with, it made me feel so much better and secure in what I was doing. There will likely be learning curves either way, but it’s better to start off with knowledge versus none.

Recently, I was in New York City for a day or two as an end to a trip I had taken with my mother. Upon seeing a vehicle labeled ‘medical examiner’ I began to wonder just how many accidents the city harbors alone, and according to studies, in 2018 there were 228,047 motor vehicle accidents in all of NYC; the leading cause being distracted driving. This number for one city alone seems insane, but the numbers get much worse when looking at it from a full country standpoint. While we can’t completely eliminate the numbers, there are steps we can take collectively to reduce them and increase our own safety as individual drivers, An example of one of these steps would be defensive driving; you cannot always trust that people are going to do right by you, which makes it very important to constantly be aware of your surroundings. Moreover, road rage is a large factor that I feel people don’t think of largely enough. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, a rough 66% of traffic fatalities happen due to aggressive driving. Reciprocating angry feelings to somebody who ‘did it first’ often turns into much worse, which is why another step is to ignore angry people the best that you can; even if it’s thought of as justified if one were to say or do something back, it comes down to your own safety as well as the safety of others, so always look to de-escalate versus escalate. A third step is to keep your eyes on the road; if your eyes are somewhere else, you’re not being the best or safest driver. You can always look at texts or notifications on your phone later, but if you don’t wait, you’re taking the risk of never being able to check your phone again.

May 31, 2023, I became part of the statistics myself. I remember the exact time and place, a curve on highway 138 headed to Stoughton, WI at approximately 4:20 in the afternoon. I had just gotten done with school for the day a little over an hour beforehand, and was then headed to my job for the rest of the night; a seemingly typical day. Going around this specific curve, there’s a road that branches off of it that drivers can use to either get off of the road, or get onto it. In my particular case, a woman in her dark blue Ford Escape was waiting to get onto the road going south-bound, which meant she had to yield as she had to cross a lane to get onto it. Eventually as I came up around the curve, I noticed her slightly lurch forward and then stop in hesitation, so I continued my journey as I had right of way; This was when my life was altered by my first car accident. When my car was parallel to the mouth of the road the woman wanted to turn onto, she ignored her hesitation and the proximity of our vehicles and decided to go anyway, resulting in a head-on collision. Miraculously we were both completely fine, bodies unscathed even with what had just occurred. In the moment I couldn’t help but feel my heart break at the sight of my front end pushed in on my beautiful 2008 Honda CR-V, its light blue hood pushed in as well as up; but as I look back on it, I’m grateful that my vehicle saved me from potential injury even though it now lies in a Honda collision center.

It’s very unimaginable to think that something that easily seems like a small error would result in your own vehicle being totaled, all because of somebody else. That’s because there is no such thing as a ‘small’ error in the driving world, because anything can very quickly turn into something you never would have imagined. Though not everything will always be in our control, we can do our best to ensure our own vehicles are. Referring back to defensive driving, as an individual I never trust other people on the road and whether or not I have the right of way, I will always look out for other people’s actions to ensure my safety as well as theirs. While I can’t control other people on the road, I can control myself.