Do Your Part

It
is expected that young people drive. Sixty years ago, driving was
considered a right of passage and a milestone in a young adult’s
coming of age narrative. Movies set in the fifties depict drive-ins
and dramatic car races. All it takes is one look at popular culture
within the past four or five decades to see what driving meant to our
parents and grandparents. What people see and hear about car
accidents involving young adults greatly impacts long-term views of
the risk associated with driving. The public’s sudden interests and
passion in encouraging safer driving is triggered when a young,
college-bound, high-school heartthrob’s life ends under a ton of
metal and engine parts. A few months later, the incident is a distant
memory and driving is no longer terrifying to America’s generation
X. Parents and people my age don’t pay attention to the annual body
count because there is no foreseeable change in sight. In other
words, allowing normal driving patterns to continue is a risk most
are willing to take. It is unlikely that the entire schedule of a
person’s life will change because their neighbor died.
Personalization, in many cases, succeeds in educating people. In this
case, however, fear is not the most impactful factor. In order to
minimize the damage caused each year by unsafe and uninformed
driving, it is necessary that everyone on the road and involved in
the process of driving do their part.

Driver
Education is perhaps the only way in which lives may be saved in the
future. Due to the underdeveloped frontal lobe, the area of the brain
responsible for decision making and reasoning skills, it is unlikely
that the loud music will be turned down, or the seatbelts will be put
on, or that any area of the law will be followed more diligently than
in days prior. However, if car companies choose to install radios
that don’t work until the seat belt has been clicked, breathalyzers
in every glove compartment, and rotating brake pads, I guarantee that
lives will be saved. Social change is not always most effective when
there is only one audience. In other words, in order to save more
lives, the companies which reach out after a customer has passed,
invest in certain educational philosophies up for political
confirmation, and focus on design rather than safety, should take it
upon themselves to prevent deaths from their end. While I have never
been in an accident myself, my life has been touched by car
accidents. In the past year, a dear friend of mine was killed while
driving to school in the morning. His phone was powered down, and the
radio turned off. Officials say he was killed on impact by an
eighteen-wheeler, the driver had been on the road for a full day and
night, and simply didn’t have control of the wheel. The memory our
community holds of his death reminds us all that sometimes death is
not at the hands of a “irresponsible teenager.” If the trucking
company had scheduled a shift-change, or educated its driver on the
fact that driving tired is just as dangerous as driving drunk,
perhaps Anthony would be graduating this year with his peers.

The
only chance anyone has at staying safe while driving is to pay
attention. I try my best to always have on a seatbelt and remain
fully able to drive if others cannot. More kids die every year, so
obviously this philosophy will not save everyone. However, if we
somehow found a way to not allow popular culture dictate the
importance of safe driving, if we reject social norms and the herd
mentality of entitled driving ingrained in our parents’ youth, then
lives will be saved. There is no one solution to a problem like
unsafe driving. We must all do our part to minimize the damage.