I have had the unfortunate chance to see many car accidents, and be involved in a few. Two of my own have been very minor, but one was pretty major. The two minor ones I caused myself by driving around as a young, dumb teenager who thought I knew everything. They were so extremely minor that nothing was ever done about it. The major one, however, was in my dad’s truck. I was driving and my husband was sitting next to me, with my mom and dad in the back seat. All of a sudden, we heard tires screeching, and the next thing I knew, I was being thrown forward onto the lawn of the restaurant we were trying to get into. I had my blinker on, and I was very clearly slowing down, but the guy driving behind us did not see us, somehow.
My point in explaining this is that the person that crashed into us could have very easily avoided everything. He later remarked, “You look down for one second,” basically admitting guilt for not only not paying attention while driving, but also potentially looking at his phone as well. He was obviously not being as safe as he could have been, and thus, caused a crash. Luckily no one was hurt in the accident, but given that it was my first time being rear-ended, I was freaked out and started crying. I had to just sit there for a few minutes afterwards, contemplating everything that had just happened. Thankfully, my dad had also unfortunately been in several accidents just like that one before and immediately called 911. They were very quick to respond, and brought out police officers, ambulances, and fire trucks to make sure everyone was alright.
Luckily for me, and everyone else involved, none of these crashes were fatal, but I have driven by several crashes where there were police, fire trucks, and ambulances littering the road to help those involved. It breaks my heart to see that someone was driving irresponsibly and caused either themselves or someone else to crash and either get hurt or killed. My neighbor, whose family has been good friends with my family, lost one of their daughters in a car accident. As far as I know, the daughter’s husband was drunk while driving. It breaks my heart to learn about these accidents, since I hate knowing that one of my essential tools, my car, can be turned into a dangerous weapon at a moment’s notice.
I think we, as a society, can reduce the number of injuries and deaths from car accidents by either doing something like taking a class every year that reinforces the idea of being safe on the road, or simply getting their emotions under control. Many people get angry as they drive, which causes them to do horrible things, whether intentionally or not. Our society as a whole has encouraged women to let their feelings out, while telling men that it is not now, nor has it ever been, OK to cry. Thankfully, that narrative is changing now, along with our ever changing society and its norms. However, I think when most people get into different situations than the ones they are comfortable with, they freak out and act irrationally. For example, while I am used to driving next to semi trucks, someone who is just learning how to drive may freak out at the thought of sharing the road with such a gigantic vehicle.
While I lived in Utah, I saw an enormous amount of crashes on the freeways. Most of them had just two cars involved, but there were a few every now and then that had more cars, and were thus more dangerous overall. I recoiled with fear every time I drove by them, fearing that someone had not only gotten hurt, but was also so irresponsible that they put themselves and others in unnecessary danger. It always made me so sad to see those accidents, knowing there was nothing I personally could have done to help prevent them or clean up afterwards.
To reiterate, I think there are several ways we can reduce injuries and deaths on the road, such as repeated classes on driving safety, and letting everyone know that their emotions and feelings are valid, and encourage them to share and be open. I try my best everyday to be aware of my surroundings while driving, maintain the speed limit, and stay in my own lane. I also know that sometimes I get angry at the way others drive, and I have been working on keeping myself calm while driving so I do not engage in any illegal or dangerous activity. I hope that everyone can learn to get along and be kind and courteous to each other.