Driving is a complicated skill. There are many stimuli that a driver has to be aware of all at once—from the cars in front of them, people on the road, traffic signs and signals, markings on the road, weather conditions, and many more. Driving well, in and of itself, is a feat. Driving with all of the distractions that bombard drivers on a day-to-day basis is a miracle. Calls and texts come in, most drivers listen to music or talk to a passenger, and parents have to try to stop children from fighting or crying. All in all, driving safely is extremely difficult. However, it is a necessary part of our lives, allowing us to live the busy lifestyles we are so attached to. So, how can we reduce the number of road deaths? Educate ourselves and our youth.
One of the best ways to reduce the number of car accidents and road deaths is to make sure that we educate our youth. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Graduated Licensing Programs that states have begun to use can reduce the risk of young drivers crashing by about 20-40%. Education beyond this, such as defensive driving courses, can reduce that risk even further. I have experienced this first-hand. I was gratefully able to complete a defensive driving course where I learned emergency braking, emergency lane changes, and how to protect myself when driving on ice and snow. Since that course, I have been able to use those skills to avoid a crash several times. One time in particular, I was on my way home from dropping something off at a friend's house. It had just snowed, and the roads were fairly dangerous, but their house was only a few minutes away, so I made the trek. On my way home, I made a right turn too quickly and found myself spinning. Had I not taken the extended courses, I would not have known what to do and would have panicked, possibly getting into an accident. Thankfully, though, I had been trained for this exact situation and was able to quickly recover and get safely home.
As previously illustrated, further driving education equips young drivers with the skills necessary to save their own lives and the lives of others. Further education also helps build good habits for skills like lane changing, but it can also help drivers avoid road rage. Road rage is one of the most dangerous distractions that both new and experienced drivers can give into. It may seem innocent or even subconscious, but allowing anger to control us is always dangerous.
Another thing that could prevent a lot of accidents is a more widespread use of restrictions on electronics for driving. Certain apps, at varying points, have introduced features that sense when users are driving and shut down the app or limit available functions while users are in the car. These features, while annoying, could help avoid a myriad of crashes caused by distracted driving each year. Better enforcement of speed limits could also save lives. I know from experience it can be hard to drive at the speed limit. However, this is made exponentially more difficult by the fact that most drivers in my area drive a minimum of 10 miles per hour over the speed limit and get angry when others don’t match that pace. If we could expand our efforts to keep people accountable for driving the posted speed limit, the number of accidents per year would be greatly decreased. Speed limits are posted because they are the safest speed that a driver can safely go on a given road, so adhering to them is important. These are just a few suggestions out of many ways the epidemic of road-related injuries and deaths can be decreased.
Writing an essay on a topic such as this calls for a certain degree of self-reflection. It made me think about how I drive and if that could potentially cause an accident someday. I feel that I should utilize the "Do Not Disturb" mode more frequently when I am driving. It is so easy to get distracted when my phone lights up with a new and exciting notification. Having "Do Not Disturb" mode on would avoid this and limit the temptation to check my phone while I am driving. Another way that I could improve my own driving is by doing mental exercises to increase my attention span. It can be really easy to let my concentration lapse, especially when I am driving on the freeway. Especially when I am tired, it can be a fight to stay alert, so making sure that I improve my mental capacity will make me a safer driver overall.
I think this is an interesting topic. It is a complicated and multifaceted issue to decrease the number of road deaths each year. The most important thing that we as a society can do is to work together and agree on certain standards—standards such as increasing driver education, driving the speed limit, and not driving distracted. Hopefully, if we do all these things, someday we will be able to take car accidents off of the world’s list of leading causes of death.