As someone learning how to drive, I'm becoming more and more aware of the importance of drivers education. Last September I was involved in a car crash with my mother after another car hit us as he was running a red. Thankfully my mother wasn’t injured, but the car was done for and because the insurance wrongfully rejected us, we had to buy a new vehicle on borrowed money. Within seconds our transport was gone and we had to put our lives on hold while we figured out what to do. Thankfully with enough time we paid our debts, repaired any trouble the new car had, and were able to get back in traction. But this accident I think could have been completely avoided if the other driver didn't drive like he did that evening. If the other driver knew what could happen to someone when they drive like that. Although I don't think he didn't know this already I believe he just ignored it and put it in the back of his mind. When on the road for so long one might forget that they’re operating a thousand-pound machine that could easily take a life.
Human error is the number one leading cause for accidents on the road according to the national highway traffic safety administration, 94% of accidents caused by human error. With so many accidents per year, the best solution to decrease this would be to get rid of the human aspect of failure altogether with self driving electric vehicles. This solution is most ideal since self driving vehicles are generally safer than traditional cars according to a study titled “A matched case-control analysis of autonomous vs human-driven vehicle accidents” and are getting better each year. Since the infrastructure as well is too car centric to be walkable - and is unlikely that this will change - self driving vehicles are the best solution. Now I know expecting everyone to switch to electric vehicles is inconvenient and unaffordable and I'm not saying that everyone should go into debt to buy one, but what I am saying is that electric vehicles will replace gas cars as gas cars replaced horses and when that happens car accidents will significantly decrease. This change won't be immediate though, but projections perceive that people are buying more and more electric vehicles every year and I believe that by the time I have a kid who's old enough to drive that they will be driving an electric vehicle as will most drivers.
This prediction though is not at all immediate and waiting for the solution to come to us while we ignore what we can do now is wrong. For the meantime what all drivers can do is be more aware and bring awareness to others. For example, in high schools - where most inexperience drivers come from - there could be a federally mandated drivers ed. Course to inform new drivers about what could happen on the road, there's already a state mandated sex ed. classes for some middle schools so why can't there be a federally mandated drivers ed. class in high schools. For most drivers not in high school though, it's important to drive responsibly not forget that there's only one you. Employ responsible driving techniques like: braking at a red light, if someone is running a red light then wait for them to pass and then go, if you're unsure about what to do in a certain situation expect the other driver won't stop and brake, wait for pedestrians to cross, always drive the speed limit or under and don't go higher than it, pull over for ambulances or fire trucks if they have their sirens on, etcetera. All this in fact can be taught in a driver's ed. course that drivers would be required to retake every year three years, so they don't forget. Now I know having people retake a course that they already passed is annoying and I know many people have better things to do with their time, but why not? As inconvenient as it sounds people will naturally find a loophole to avoid it, but if this at all can change someones day to make them make a better decision, then the inconvenient sacrifice is absolutely worth it.
So, in conclusion self driving vehicles will reduce accidents as the technology improves and as more people are buying them each year. This change from traditional cars to self driving cars will take decades so, for the meantime if the country would push for overall driver awareness by having a driver's ed. course in high schools and a driver's ed. course for adults to retake every three years, that would greatly improve safety on the roads. Thank You.