Wearing a seatbelt
cuts your risk of dying in a car accident in half. Of course this
statistic varies from source to source -- some say your odds are
closer to 45%, some say 55% -- but the general consensus is that
wearing a seatbelt is the number one thing you can do to increase the
likelihood that you’ll walk away from a crash instead of being
wheeled out with a sheet over your face (or be scraped off of the
road in front of your shattered windshield).


So educating
drivers is absolutely crucial. And not just in the fine details of
nineteen-point-turns, but in the seemingly simplest aspects of safe
driving, such as the importance of wearing a seatbelt. Many of the
people that I know who don’t behave safely in cars don’t do so
because they just don’t know any better. If they did, I can
guarantee you that they wouldn’t be acting so rashly.


To reduce the
number of driving-related deaths, the most important thing you can do
is -- do I even need to say it at this point? Aside from wearing a
seatbelt, the number one thing you can do to be safe is PAY
ATTENTION. Even if your eyes are on the road and off your
phone/radio/boyfriend in the passenger seat, that doesn’t mean
other drivers are behaving the same way. Drive defensively. Be alert.

I’ve never been
in a high-speed crash, but I’ve watched a friend drive away from a
party, intoxicated on anger and probably something he had hidden in a
flask in his jacket pocket (this friend wasn’t the, ah, most
level-headed). It was terrifying. I legitimately thought this friend
wouldn’t make it home alive. He did, but he got a doozy of a
lecture from the rest of us as soon as we knew he was safe, because
driving under the influence of ANYTHING distracting is one of the
stupidest things you can do -- whether that be alcohol or thoughts
about the girl who just dumped you at her best friend’s birthday
party (side note -- who does that?!).

The steps to
becoming a safer driver, then, are as follows:


Don’t drive
distracted,

If your
friend serving as the night’s chauffeur is behaving like a fool,
yell at them -- they deserve it, and

WEAR. A.
SEATBELT.

Remember, when
you’re driving, it’s not just your life you’re putting at risk.
You’ve taken control of three tons of metal. If you do something
stupid, someone else might pay, even if you don’t (and I’m not
just talking about insurance, although if you’ve seen the premiums
on auto insurance that should be incentive enough to think twice
about doing something stupid behind the wheel).