Imagine being on an airplane. For some, it is filled with anxiety and fear. The thought of being airborne hundreds of miles above the ground, with nothing but two engines deciding life or death, scares some people so much that they refuse to fly. Now imagine those risks 100 times greater: in a car. The odds of dying in a plane is a rare 1/10,000, while the odds of dying in a car accident are 1/114. So why do people still fail to buckle up, drive under the influence, and drive over the speed limit in a vehicle that essentially is a rocket flying down a highway? The answer is a lack of attention to forewarnings. People tend to forget or ignore warnings that their family and instructors exclaim over and over again. People believe that those horrible accidents all over the news will never happen to them, until they do. Fatal automobile accidents happen every day, to a significant amount of people, but the warnings are simply ignored. Recognizing and learning from other drivers’ mistakes around you is the difference between losing a child or arriving safely to his soccer practice. Along with observing other drivers actions, explicit education regarding how to respond to the unexpected can help drivers avoid accidents. Direct teaching on avoiding accidents can have a positive effect on driving safety. More education on how to respond on the road and paying attention to these warnings are two primary ways to reduce the climbing number of accidents per year.
This past Saturday morning, I was enjoying my chocolate chip muffin when my mom reminded me to drive safely, “because accidents can happen to everyone.” I brushed it off and continued thinking about my day and the events that would flow together without interruption. Later that day I had gone shopping with my friend, and she barely avoided an accident by a driver swerving into our lane. Furthermore, later that night, I was packing up my things from my church spaghetti dinner event which my family ran. My dad had sent me up to check on my mom before I left. She told me to grab some dinner and head on my way. As I was packing my things and zipping up my coat, she kissed my head and told me to drive safely, as she always does. But this night would end differently. Approaching my exit off the dark highway, suddenly I am looking into the eyes of a deer, moments before my car smashes into its side and rolls to a stop. Hysterical, I dial 9-1-1 after calling my mom and saying words no mother ever wants to hear. Soon an officer and the tow truck arrive at the scene. As other cars hurry past us, I am reminded of how others can continue their night as planned without worry of something changing their life. Even though this accident was not one I could have prevented, I was also reminded of how people drive by car accidents multiple times every day and don’t think to take the necessary precautions to try to prevent them. This includes wearing a seat belt, driving the speed limit, and following other regulations set by state law to ensure safer driving. The truth is, safer driving increases with more experience, which ultimately helps people avoid dangerous situations. Driving experience, however, usually comes with age, which is why so many teenage car crashes result in fatalities. Adolescents do not have the skills to minimize the damage during an accident. With this being said, a necessary way to reduce adolescent automobile accidents is through education. Adults have more experience to act quickly and responsively to create the best possible scenario out of a dangerous accident while younger drivers have not. Hearing adults’ stories and lessons can help to educate teens on driving safety and how to best react to a potentially dangerous situation. By simply learning from other’s mistakes, many teenage crashes can be prevented.
The concept of noticing warnings may seem like a simple and obvious one, but it is not. Imagine seeing a story on television that explained a car crash was caused by the music being too loud and not hearing the blazing horn coming your way in your lane. Now you keep the music at a low level. However, not all accidents can be prevented, so it is necessary to learn to react the correct way when a possible threat is encountered. For example, if a raccoon is running on the road, learning to inhibit the instinct to swerve off the road could help avoid a worse collision with a tree or sign. If a driver is tailgating, instead of matching their road wage, give them a kind wave. If another driver appears to be under the influence and is engaging in dangerous behavior, get as far away from them as possible and call 9-1-1 if needed to possibly prevent a fatal accident. All these examples and more are precautions people need to learn in order to reduce the number of fatal car accidents.
More education, including education in specific scenarios and situations, could help prevent accidents and reduce car accident fatalities.