Before the 21st century, it was normal to not wear seatbelts in cars. Ask someone part of Generation X or the Boomer generation, and they will tell you they remembered a time when seatbelts weren’t needed and kids would ride in the back trunk of the car. As is usual for people, they protested when the American government introduced laws that required seat belts to be worn. They argued that the government would be overstepping its power to regulate seatbelts, not considering the safety reasons why the law was put into place. Without a seatbelt, the driver, and passengers run the risk of injury when the car suddenly stops. Passengers could fly out of the window with no seatbelt to hold them in place or run their bodies into the seat or dashboard. Over time, with an emphasis on driver's education and time, wearing a seatbelt became normal in American society. Driver education is important because it enforces safety principles that minimize driving casualties. Steps in educating drivers to reduce casualties include properly enforcing safe driving practices and increasing accessibility to driver’s education.
Safe driving practices include going the speed limit. Driving the speed limit is a problem for many Americans. When asking the people around you, many will say they do not always go the speed limit, which is unsafe. The speed limit is determined by the zoning of an area: urban and suburban zones have a lower speed limit because pedestrians are more likely to walk closer to cars, and country roads and highways have a higher speed limit because pedestrians are less likely to be near the roads. The speed limit is determined by the likelihood of a car colliding with a pedestrian, so by following the speed limit, casualties are less likely to occur.
Other safe driving practices include learning to drive in different road conditions. This includes driving in different types of weather and roads. As temperatures increase or decrease, it is important to know how that will affect your car’s tire traction on the road and the internal temperature of the car. For example, with more precipitation, the roads become slick, and your car will slide if you are not careful. Slow accelerations, braking, turning, and keeping distance between the car in front of you are ways you can drive safely on slick roads. Not only do drivers need to worry about weather, but the road type is significant to how an individual drives. Urban roads and twisting country roads are tight to move through. Drivers should move slowly through said roads to avoid collisions. With highways, high-speed traffic with more semi-trucks requires the driver to pay attention to their surroundings. Otherwise, an accident could easily occur. Cars drive in diverse conditions from pure nature to a city with skyscrapers, so drivers must know how to navigate their cars in different conditions.
Cities can create safer roads by increasing accessibility to driver’s education to driver’s education. Money and transportation are barriers that may prevent people from obtaining a driver’s education. The cost to do both in-class and in-car is often over $300 and in some cases may be more expensive because the driving school is the closest to one’s home. Alternative payment for driving school would help lower the economic barrier for someone to obtain their driver’s education. This could take the form of need-based financial aid funded by taxes or payment plans that one can pay over time. Transportation is another issue some people run into. If the driving school is too far to walk to, public transportation would be needed. Rural areas do not have the same public transportation infrastructure that urban areas do and often rely on driving private vehicles to places. This creates a barrier for people living in rural areas without the resources to get themselves to driving school. It would be possible for the driving school to drive their students to the school because they already have the vehicles in the car. Having an instructor driving students to the driving school could also teach students safe driving early on before in-car classes. Accessibility to driver’s education would ensure the American population has the opportunity to learn safe driving principles.
When you drive safely you decrease your chances of being in an accident, but other drivers on the road impact that likelihood as well. I know people who have recklessly driven or were involved in car accidents. My mom, friends, and citizens of my town have been in accidents before. It is a collective effort to practice safe driving which includes: driving the speed limit: driving appropriately depending on the weather and the roads: and removing barriers to driver’s education. I hope that one day, it becomes unusual to know multiple people who were in car accidents, same as someone not wearing a seatbelt.