Motor Vehicle Collisions And The Pandemic Of Fault

In the United States there are over five million motor vehicle collisions each year, and there is one common phrase you can hear at most of the crash sites. That phrase starts with “It wasn’t…” and ends with, “…my fault”. On average, out of the 5,000,000 collisions, over 30,000 people have lost their lives. When examining why fault matters in an accident, there is a simple reason, but does fault really matter when an individual’s life is lost? Most people don’t want to be at fault to avoid the financial burden of paying for the damages. However, despite any attempts at avoidance, there is always someone who is found responsible. Whether it was deliberate ignorance or an “important” distraction, a nonchalant thought can butterfly into a life altering event.

There are a variety of causes that lead to a car accident and the most common are entirely preventable. Distracted driving is the leading cause, and with the increasing need for device consumption due to social media and interactive navigation apps, that has only gotten worse. Speeding is close behind distracted driving, being the second main cause for car accidents. Nine out of ten Americans have admitted to speeding despite knowing the risk. So why is it that those who are aware of the potentially fatal risk, still choose to speed and/or drive distracted? The answer is comfort. Being behind the wheel can quickly become a mundane task once you commute back and forth to work every day, but it never loses any risk. Operating a motor vehicle is arguably the second greatest shared responsibility among the populace behind being a parent, but it isn’t treated as such. Many choose to opt-out of a seatbelt when making a short drive or don’t see the issue with responding to a text while driving. After doing something so many times, you can become blind to the actual risks, especially when you haven’t personally been affected by them. But regardless of how innocent careless driving may seem, from checking a navigation app to a quick text back, these actions can be catastrophic. The simple choice to be engaged and intentional with our driving is a small price to pay with a monumental reward.

For driver’s in one of the four states that requires driver’s training–for adults and teenagers–in order to receive your license, it was likely heard about how important it is to stay focused on the road and uphold the rules regarding speed or safety. These reminders and statistics can easily be ignored when the main concern and care is devoted to the freedom of driving. The responsibility of driving becomes lost as just another dramatic lecture.

Ultimately, driver’s ed instructors are the key to ingraining the responsibility of getting behind the wheel into the minds of those who take driver’s training. So that with driving instruction, there is also the entity of driver training in general. Though there is a caveat with that fact, it is the student’s choice to listen. And if the student chooses not to listen, their driving expertise can translate to nothing without the responsibility piece being considered. As drivers, there has to be an understanding that we can’t become comfortable with driving to the point that we neglect simple safety practices or minimize the importance of a speed limit. Falling into a routine can be easier than we think and with driving, the routine of comfort in the lack of regulation can sometimes be deadly. Other times, it further proves that fault is less personal than we think.

When I was a passenger during a broadside collision, both drivers could only agree on one thing; “It wasn’t my fault”. The vehicle I was in was making a left turn at a green light and the driver in the opposing lane was speeding through the intersection attempting to make a delivery in time. That driver admitted to using their phone, yet still couldn’t see the problem with their version of minimally distracted driving. Almost all of us have made a quick glance at our phones at one point or another, but in doing so, we fail to realize that all it takes is a millisecond. In reality, we’re all at fault. Whenever we brush off the rules of the road for our own desires, we further normalize those quick device glances or 15 mph over-the-speed-limit drives. I know that I can do better with making sure I put emphasis on following the rules of the road as it could very easily–and very quickly–become a situation of life or death. Choose life, as it might not be your own life you’re sacrificing.