I can remember it all so vividly. One minute I was waiting patiently in the turn lane to get into the gas station and the next I was slowly climbing out of my wrecked vehicle. I was only 16 years old when I got into a major accident. I was lucky enough to walk away unharmed but my vehicle was totaled. The accident was not my fault. A woman was changing lanes and did not check to see if another vehicle was in her blind spot. Due to her irresponsibility, I was crashed into by not one but two vehicles. My first car was hit in both the front and back end.

Drivers training is very important for all drivers. A step that could be taken to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is to require all drivers to take a refresher course in drivers training. Older people should especially be required to do this since their ability to react decreases as they get older. Many people will probably say this is a dumb idea or that they know how to drive but those are the people that need it the most. Many people need a refresher on their drivers education because they forget the rules or even develop habits that are not good or safe driving skills. Some people think that they own the road or that they can do whatever they want, because of this it can cause people to get frustrated with other drivers on the road. This can lead to road rage. When someone gets road rage it affects their judgment along with their stress levels. People who experience road rage often cause car accidents or do something they regret when in reality they are just mad at the other drivers. Taking these refresher courses could decrease the levels of road rage because everyone would be getting the understanding of what not to do while driving and how to break some of the habits they have learned.

Another idea to help decrease the number of deaths related to driving is the use of Artificial Intelligence. How could we do this you may ask? The improvement of the AI technology over the course of these past few years has made it so collision avoidance is on the rise in the new cars. They should put in more driving assistance like notifying the driver if they are crossing over into oncoming lanes without knowing or notifying the driver whether there is something happening that the driver can't see. Now one of the biggest issues many people, especially older people have when it comes to driving is the blind spot in a car. The blind spot is one of the things about driving that most drivers forget about. There are about 840,000 blind spot accidents in the U.S. every year. The most serious of these incidents involve commercial trucks, which may result in severe or fatal injuries. With AI, blind spot car crashes can be prevented. My accident that I talked about earlier in this essay was one of the 840,000 that could have been prevented. The woman that caused the accident first crashed into another car and then they both hit me. She did not check her blind spot and she was also older. AI can make driving safer because of all the safety features that can be put into the new vehicles. These features can make driving on the roads safer and save more people's lives by preventing certain types of accidents.

My last idea is something that has already become a law in my home state of Michigan. Drivers in Michigan are not allowed to touch their phone at all while driving or even just being behind the wheel. A friend of mine was pulled over and given a warning even just for checking their phone while at a red light. Cell phones are a necessity but they are also a huge distraction while in the car. I think phones should be able to detect when you are in a car and should be automatically put on a do not disturb mode. Having the ability to curb a person’s phone usage while in the car would drastically reduce the amount of distracted driving and lead to less accidents and deaths.

In closing, all of the points made above focus on how driving can have many effects on not just your life, but other peoples as well. I also pointed out some ways that we can deal with these problems so that people can drive more safely. I experienced an accident that I hope nobody else has to experience. The accident was due to the lack of others being aware of people's surroundings. There are still many car accidents that happen year round. Road rage, cell phone use and checking blind spots are all instances that can have major effects on driving. With the use of new AI technology and driver training refreshers we can make driving more secure for all.