Hidden in Plain Sight

I was on a car ride home from the city with my father. We were in the first lane of a two-lane highway. The next couple seconds happened like a rapid movie sequence. We were passing cars on the second lane, when suddenly, a minivan merging onto the highway attempted to merge into our lane. Its huge frame covered the view from our dashboard, and my father slammed on the breaks. Our sedan skidded forward and shook violently– the minivan was a moment’s breath in front of us. My father quickly angled the wheels to the railing on the left and we averted collision. Adrenaline rushed over me as I became filled with anger.

I was angry at my helplessness. As a passenger, I was placed in a situation that I had absolutely no control over. All I could do was watch as my life flashed before my eyes. My father is an experienced driver who has been driving for over 30 years, but even with his last-minute dexterity, we barely escaped a deadly collision. Yet, many less experienced drivers are threatened by reckless drivers on the road.

In the US, over 37,000 people die in road crashes each year and an additional 2.35 million are injured or disabled (ASIRT). These are staggering statistics; the opioid epidemic killed nearly 100,000 people between 2006 and 2016, while motor vehicle accidents caused 190,455 deaths in the same time frame (Washington Post 2019). Clearly, these numbers are not tangible to the drivers who speed, drink, and text on the road today.

Public communication must be heightened to relay the immense responsibility of driving and the deep tragedy of motor vehicle accidents. The current driving ads in the media are not creating a strong enough impact on drivers. They seem moralizing and relay obvious messages. Of course reckless driving endangers lives. Of course we should not drink and drive. The message is obvious to the head, but does not translate to action, because the reality bypasses the heart of the viewer.

I believe we must take greater effort in our visual communication. Nonprofits such as the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the Safe Roads Alliance could organize nationwide film festivals. Esteemed documentarians would create and hold showings of films related to themes of driving. One idea for a film is to weave story and science together. Respected professors in engineering and physics can describe the impact of rapidly-moving vehicles when they collide with other vehicles on the road. The science will be broken up by segments of various survivors sharing their experiences from accidents, portraying the real loss that comes with reckless driving. This viewing experience would not moralize, but help the viewer realize the power one wields behind the wheel.

In our increasingly visual age, films have the power to induce pathos and promote change. Public communications can save thousands of lives by helping drivers grasp the deadly epidemic of crash fatalities, which are all too easily hidden in plain sight.

Sources:

Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT). https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/

Halsey III, Ashley. “More Americans have died in car crashes since 2000 than in both World Wars.” The Washington Post. July 21, 2019.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/more-people-died-in-car-crashes-this-century-than-in-both-world-wars/2019/07/21/0ecc0006-3f54-11e9-9361-301ffb5bd5e6_story.html