Our Responsibilities as Drivers

     When was the last time you were driving and saw somebody in the car next to you using their phone? Was it on the highway? At a red light? How often did they look up to check the road in front of them? Do you think they know how much danger they are putting themselves in? You can find people doing this everywhere. Drive for 30 minutes and you'll surely drive past or next to somebody who is on their phone. It's unfortunately become extremely common to see on the road, and people don't seem to realize that not only are they putting themselves at risk, but they're putting the people around them at risk too. Distracted driving has become an accepted part of society and people have become blind to how much risk it can create. Highway collisions can be life altering, whether permanently disabling somebody, sending them into financial troubles, or even resulting in death. And there are 2 sides to every crash. Even if you're a perfectly safe driver, all it takes is one distracted driver to deliver all of these consequences to you as well.
     Driving safely is not just a risk to yourself. You are equally risking the lives and well being of all those around you when you're a distracted driver. So not only should we as a community be doing our best to stay focused while on the road, but we should also be enforcing focused driving on the people around us. Don't let your driver be on their phone if you're in the passenger seat. If they don't care enough about their own safety, they still ought to be looking out for the people around them. In the USA alone, 39,000 people die in 2024 to car accidents, which is over 100 a day. And if you count injuries, there were 2,400,000 total car crash related injuries in 2024. Out of the 6,180,000 police reported car crashes that year, that means 1/2.5 crashes related in an injury. And even when an injury is not involved, being in a car crash that causes severe damage to you or another person's vehicle can cause the individual to go through great financial trouble to cover damages, as well as possibly removing their ability to get to and from work.
     Driving is the most dangerous thing the average person will ever do. The majority of people will, at some point in their life, get into an accident. And after already covering how dangerous a car crash can be, it should be evident that people should be very worried about this. The GHSA has found that people using their cell phones on the road are 240% more likely to get into an accident than someone who is focused on the road. There is no sensible reason to submit yourself and others to this level of risk every day on your commute to school or work. And distracted driving goes so much farther than just using a cell phone. The  AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that depending on your sleep last night, you can be up to 11 times more likely to get into an accident if you have less than 4 hours of sleep. And at even 7 hours of sleep, which might seem like enough, you are statistically 1.3 times more likely to be in an accident than if you were fully rested. Similarly to sleep, being intoxicated can be even more dangerous. According to the NHTSA, after just 1 drink, you are thrice as likely to be in an accident. After five drinks, that number rises exponentially to 25 times more likely. 
     Think about how much pain and suffering could come to an end if people would just focus more on the road ahead of them. The amount of deaths and injuries has already been discussed, but, financially, a car accident can be very destructive as well. The average direct cost of car crashes on the US economy is around $4,500,000,000 a year. That's not counting any residual costs, only the direct cost of repairs to the damages. Imagine how much the American people could do with an extra 4.5 billion dollars a year. Imagine how much better off the average person would be if we didn't have to waste so many resources on picking up after a mistake that can be prevented simply by waiting a few minutes to check your phone. Car crashes create a ridiculous amount of financial and emotional strain on people all across the world, despite the fact that they're caused by such easy to avoid mistakes. It should be a very high priority to minimize it as much as possible. As drivers, it is our responsibility to keep ourselves and others safe, for the sake of not only our own happiness, but the well being of our community and our world.