The amount of reckless drivers on the road is incredibly concerning. Although I have never been in an accident myself, I have had a few close calls. Each close call has helped me to reflect on what I (or the other driver) did wrong, what could be done differently, and how I can help others be aware of those same mistakes.
I remember taking Driver’s Ed in High School and taking it very seriously. Cars can be intimidating and are very dangerous if you aren’t careful. I learned all about the rules of the road, the different road signs and what they mean, how far away to park from a stop sign or fire hydrant, and even having to draw a picture of a cars dashboard to commit to memory what the buttons and switches do. One may think “why is it dangerous to park so close to a stop sign”, but they won’t be wondering that anymore when they run a stop sign because a vehicle was parked to close, obstructing the view of the stop sign. Even the smallest rules may seem obsolete, but they are rules for a reason and it’s important to follow them.
Reducing the number of vehicle-related deaths when driving seems easier said than done, but there are definitely preventable measures that can be taken. One big one that seems to be a big issue in Utah would be to make the lines on the roads more visible, especially when it’s raining, and especially in construction zones. There are times on the freeway when you can’t see the lines when it’s raining, which is an obvious issue in and of itself. Construction is another issue that causes life-threatening wrecks. I had a really close friend pass away a few years ago due to unclear lines in a construction zone on Bangerter Highway. My father and I were driving on that exact road earlier that day and at the exact intersection my friend had died at my dad had said “wow these lines are horrible, this is going to cause a wreck”. No more than six hours later my friend was t-boned at that intersection. If we could figure out how to paint better lines (using different paint, reflectors, etc.) we could save more lives on the road.
I have never been in an accident myself, but I have seen a few on the freeway and I have been with my friend who nearly caused many crashes while we were together. A recent accident I witnessed on the freeway was when there was stand-still traffic and as I had looked in my rear-view mirror a vehicle had failed to notice the traffic and rammed into the back of a mini van at full speed, causing a car 5 pile up and the vehicle that caused the accident to spin in circles across all 5 lanes of the freeway. That could have been prevented just by paying attention. Chances are the driver wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. Another example would be driving with my friend as teenagers. She was always distracted by her phone, the radio, singing, etc. I can’t tell you how many times she almost drove out into traffic because she didn’t see a car coming or she was changing a song, and we probably would have crashed if I didn’t yell out every time it happened. It didn’t take long for me to decide that I was going to drive us everywhere because I wanted to live.
The steps I can take to be a better driver would be to continue knowing my surroundings and being aware of the drivers around me. As a teenager it was easy to not think much about pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcycles. I had a few close calls almost hitting a motorcyclist because they were hard to see at night, or almost hitting a pedestrian because I failed to stop before the white lines of the crosswalk and creeped forward instead. Those close encounters were wake up calls for me. They helped me understand that I need to pay attention at all times because you truly never know what could happen. Another quick example would be a time my sister-in-law hit a girl at a crosswalk accidentally because she didn’t see the girl crossing due to a big semi blocking the view. Luckily the girl was okay. It was one of those one-of-a-kind situations that we need to be aware of to help us be better defensive drivers.
One more thing that could be taught better when it comes to driver education would be our attitudes while driving. We see too many road-rage incidents these days that could easily be avoided if people could take a deep breath and not get so mad while driving. It’s a very selfish way of driving. Just because someone else doesn’t drive like or as fast as you doesn’t mean you get to yell, swear, throw hand gestures, etc. Take a deep breath and accept being stuck in traffic like everyone else. Take away road-rage incidents and we would have quite a few less accidents.