Education is the fire that feeds all progression in humanity. Through education, we’ve been able to achieve miraculous things, such as modern medicine, modern technology, and a wider range of interpretations of human experience. As we learn more regarding a subject, our understanding increases and we can be more aware of what we are doing and how that impacts us and others. One of the larger responsibilities that has come with this increased growth in technology is that of vehicular management. By the time most of us are 16, we can drive a vehicle that courts have deemed a deadly weapon. This is a responsibility that cannot be taken lightly. Cars have the capability of seriously injuring the operator as well as those outside of the vehicle. Approximately 19,937 car crashes resulting in about 118 deaths every day. That is not a comforting statistic. That is around 2 crashes every second, with minor to deadly injuries occurring at each.
Of the 50 states in the United States of America, only 37 of them have a mandatory drivers education course for those seeking to gain their driver's license. Drivers education courses provide additional information regarding the use of these vehicles that can’t be learned firsthand when driving. You learn more regarding the human reaction time, the statistics of car crashes, the responsibility that you have when you are managing a car, and so much more. When a person doesn’t take a course like this before taking the wheel in the streets, they do not have the knowledge to know how big of a responsibility they are taking on by driving that car. Through drivers education, we can make people more aware of the responsibility they hold while driving to make sure they, their passengers, and those outside of their vehicle are safe. Being aware of this responsibility means that people can act and maintain this responsibility. If they aren’t aware of a responsibility, how are they supposed to be held accountable for it? By educating people about this responsibility, we are helping them become more aware of the power that they hold, which in turn will cause the rate of incidents in cars to decrease, saving so many lives.
Beyond educating people about the responsibility they have, there are other steps that can be taken to ensure the safety of all people in and out of vehicles who are using the streets. The first of these is the care that we take of our roads. The U.S. Department of Transportation itself has pointed out the significant number of deaths that occur on our roads every year (3). If we keep our roads smooth and well maintained, the likelihood of a ‘freak accident’ occurring decreases significantly. When our roads are well maintained, we prevent the likelihood of tires being blown, of rocks shattering windshields, and of cars bottoming out and dangerously damaging the equipment on the underside. Another way we can prevent deaths is by educating not just our drivers, but also our pedestrians. As someone who has been both a driver and a biker in a suburban area, not very many pedestrians or bikers really know the rules of the street to keep themselves safe. They don’t know the hand gestures to communicate to drivers where they’re going, which can lead to accidental deaths because the driver potentially misinterpreted what they thought the pedestrians were doing. By educating those outside of cars how they are meant to interact and communicate with those within the vehicles, we will be able to lower the number of deaths within pedestrians as well. There are also safety measures that can be taken within the cars themselves to keep the occupants safe. Things such as airbags and seatbelts have saved lives time and time again, and will continue to do so. However, just because we’ve created something that can protect our passengers in cars does not mean that there’s nothing that can be improved. We’ve been innovating for centuries, and such efforts cannot stop. We need to continue innovating our vehicles to keep ourselves and our passengers safe when we drive. Last of all, there is legislation that could be passed that could further protect us from avoidable accidents. Legislation such as requiring safety exams on cars and restricting handheld devices within our vehicles while driving.
When I was around 12 years old, my sister got into a car crash that ended up totaling our family van. My sister had just gotten her driver's license a couple of months earlier and was so excited to be able to drive herself and her friend around without needing a parent in the car. She was on her way to an awards ceremony for a writing competition in which my family were regular participants, when another car ran a stop sign and completely ran into the side of the car. My brother, who was also in the car, sustained mild whiplash, and my sister suffered from whiplash, a mild concussion, as well as her eyebrows being singed off from the airbag inflating in her face. When my sister didn’t arrive for the ceremony and called my mother asking for help, my whole family was seized with fear. Thankfully, no one was too seriously injured to require any legal action or emergency medical care, but it did set a precedent in my family for caution while we are driving. When I was beginning to learn to drive, I remember constantly being paranoid that another driver would break the law and swerve in front of or into me. If the person in the other car hadn’t been looking at her phone while driving, she may have stopped in time, and the incident never would have occurred in the first place. Texting and driving has led to almost 1.6 million crashes every year. If we were to eliminate the usage of handheld electronics in our vehicles, we would be able to stop so many crashes from happening, and through that, we would preventing a landslide of tragic deaths and injuries from occurring as well.
In order to become a safer and more aware driver, I believe that everyone could benefit from putting their phone onto ‘Do Not Disturb’ while they are driving, and ensuring that every person in their vehicle is using a seatbelt and is sitting properly so as to avoid any potential injury from occurring if an accident were to take place. Every driver is responsible for themselves and their passengers, so they need to maintain their safety as well as the safety of those they are transporting. I believe that following those simple steps and by becoming more aware of the power we are holding when we drive, we’ll be able to keep our world safer and decrease the number of accidents and deaths that occur because of car crashes every day. The difference starts with us, the individuals. So I have stopped checking my phone in my car. I turn on my music or podcast, and then put it away so that it isn’t even a potential distraction for me while I am driving. I buckle my seatbelt and ensure that all my passengers do the same. I am aware of my responsibility as a driver, and because of that awareness, I have been able to avoid so many accidents that some of my peers have not been so lucky to avoid.
I truly think that education and awareness will change the statistics of incidents that occur while we’re driving, and when we keep ourselves accountable, we’ll be able to address any other issues without having to worry about distracted and unaware drivers.