One moment, I was smiling in the backseat of the minivan, belting along with my brother and sister to the song on the radio. I didn’t see my dad glancing anxiously in the rearview mirror. I didn’t see the car behind us, far behind but rapidly gaining. I was twelve, and it never occurred to me to worry about the danger that threatened my family in our very own vehicle.
We were on vacation in Wichita, Kansas to celebrate my brother’s tenth birthday. My parents had planned a series of exciting experiences, from a trip to a dinosaur museum to a day at a wild west reenactment. Imagining the fun ahead, I remained blissfully unaware of the approaching hazard as we drove down the highway.
The car behind us sped closer. My dad knit his brow with concern, but I was too young to understand why. In hindsight I see clearly. The vehicles around us were all too close for my dad to speed up or change lanes in time. Gripping the wheel, he must have felt the claws of panic as he cast about for a way to avoid the impending collision. He blared his horn, but the startled driver behind us had no time to react. My dad made a final attempt to swerve into the exit on our right … but it was too late.
With a jolt, the minivan rose and fell. The radio snapped off. Then the glass from our rear window shattered and a rush of wind swooped in the vehicle. I lurched forward; my seatbelt tugged me back. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on my side with my head on the seat between me and my sister. Blinking furiously, I tried to make sense of the chaos. Seconds passed before I realized that we had experienced a car accident.
Dazed and confused, I couldn’t feel pain. All I could think about was my family. Were they all right? Who was alive? Traffic roared past on the highway, but inside the minivan, all was quiet and still. Then I heard my mom’s voice from the passenger seat, asking if everyone was okay. My dad said something. My brother and sister responded. I let out my breath, relieved at the sound of their voices—whole, pure, and alive. Soon my mom called my name, and my sister shook my shoulder. I bolted upright and saw their tense faces crumble with relief. Our vehicle was totaled, but we were alive with no serious injuries on the surface. It could have been worse.
But for millions of people a year, car wrecks are far more disastrous. As reported by Forbes1, 42,514 people in the United States died in car accidents in 2022, while another 1,664,598 crashes resulted in injuries. Over 12,151 people died because of speeding drivers in the United States, while distracted drivers accounted for 3,308 deaths and 289,310 injuries. Accidents caused by drunk driving become more likely as more drivers share the road, especially at night. In fact, drunk driving caused at least 13,524 fatalities. Another danger associated with night driving is drowsiness. Approximately 6,400 people perish in accidents caused by drowsy drivers each year. These staggering numbers of deaths and injuries demand we stop and consider the causes of traffic accidents and do everything in our power to prevent them.
Speed limits are skyrocketing. Distractions, especially from technology, have never been higher. Together, these have a compounding effect, resulting in more accidents with greater severity. Our streets and highways teem with people who engage in careless and reckless behaviors, ignoring the danger they pose to themselves and all the other drivers and passengers around them. Many people forget that every time they sit behind the wheel, lives hang in the balance. No one is immortal; death is a reality. It is our responsibility as drivers to protect ourselves and everyone around us.
Driver education is one essential way to accomplish this. Before I got my permit, I attended a two-day class that taught me to drive defensively, read signs, operate a vehicle, park, and reverse safely, among other useful skills. Then I completed six hours of supervised driving with an instructor, allowing me to gain monitored experience on the road. But most importantly, the instructor emphasized the serious implications of being a driver and how your actions can affect the trajectory of people’s lives. One careless move can land someone in the hospital, their family in financial crisis, and the driver at fault in significant trouble.
To avoid involvement in accidents, we must focus and stay alert behind the wheel. Additionally, to protect ourselves, we must sometimes compensate for the errors of other drivers. I recently drove home after dark and almost got T-boned by a car that ran a stop sign. However, anticipating their mistake, I applied my brakes and evaded the collision. Many times, other drivers are not paying attention. They are distracted by their phones or their thoughts or simply choosing to engage in destructive driving practices. The safest way to deal with dangerous drivers is to stay alert, foresee their blunders, and allow them a wide berth.
Another way to improve road safety is driving the speed limit. Though Hollywood blockbuster car chases sell the message that speeding is cool, reality proves otherwise. There is nothing cool about hanging upside-down in your car after rolling into a ditch, much less sending someone else to a similar fate. Frequently, people believe that if they are speeding, they will have time to react and slow down before causing a collision. But slowing down from high speeds takes time—often more time than a driver possesses to escape a crash. Probably the speeding driver who totaled my family’s minivan realized she was about to hit us, but by then it was too late to stop.
Let me take speed safety a step further. Reducing speed limits would go a long way to improve safety. Speed limits are determined by states, so to decrease speeds on highways, citizens must influence their elected legislature to change state laws. Our leaders will not change the laws regarding this issue without a cry of consensus from their supporters. Before we can lower speed limits, we must change the way we view high-speed driving as a culture. Many people, especially young people, relish the thrill of zipping down highways at 80 to 90 miles per hour. They blare their music, slam the gas pedal, and call it freedom. With so many drivers pushing such high speeds, accidents are bound to occur.
Is driving 80 miles an hour worth a car accident? Is it worth hospitalization, a prison sentence, or death? Comparing state-wise results from the Forbes article earlier with state speed limits reported on Wikipedia2, states with speed limits from 55 to 65 miles per hour have generally lower traffic death rates per 100,000 people than states with speeds from 70 to 85 miles an hour. If more states were to adopt lower speed limits, fatal car accidents would decrease nationwide. To accomplish this, we must convince our family, friends, neighbors, and leaders that high speed limits are far more dangerous than convenient. If you have experienced a car accident on a high-speed road, share your story. Stories hold immense power to affect social change.
The damage caused by careless and reckless driving is serious. Property is destroyed. Some people bleed; others face difficult recovery or permanent impairment; still others die. And no one can measure the scars that car accidents leave in people’s minds. Though I will always be grateful no one died in the crash when I was twelve, the experience still left its mark. For years, my brother was terrified to ride in a car. He jumped every time another vehicle approached us on the road. To this day, the fear still haunts him. As drivers, it is our duty to prevent things like this from happening further. If we all drove with more caution at lower speeds, car accidents would decrease, sparing many people like my brother from trauma and others from the loss of a loved one, pain, and death.