Name: Jonathan Bowden
From: Pickerington, Ohio
Votes: 0
With
the progression of technology, cars are becoming more and more
advanced. With features like automatic braking and lane detection,
these allow drivers to travel in safety, yet the numbers don’t show
this. In 2017, out of 100,000 people, 11.4 people have died in a
vehicle accident, which is around the average of the past decade.
This begs the question: why haven’t the number of accidents
decreased? One possible answer could be that the majority of people
don’t own cars with these features, but the real answer doesn’t
even have to deal with technology. It deals with us.
The
technology is helpful for minor accidents like making a quick break,
but it can’t help people from not paying attention or not following
the rules. Most accidents today aren’t really accidents. They are
negligence. Not keeping your eyes on the road, texting while
driving, and thinking people can break the laws. They think, “It
won’t happen to me. I’m a better driver, and I won’t get
hurt.” They see others check their phone quickly and go back to
driving, so they copy. They think that everyone also goes 15 mph
over the speed limit, so they can too. They see people drive past
stop signs, so they do the same. It’s this way of thinking that
causes accidents. Thinking that everyone else can drive recklessly,
so they can also.
The
cause of car accidents comes from the idea that everyone can drive
inattentive, but the answer is quite similar to the problem; we
enforce the mentality that people have to be focused when driving.
This might originally sound like a cop-out answer, but when done
right, it can be effective. Humans are social creatures; we thrive
on following the norm, which means if the norm sees it fine to speed
10 mph above the speed limit then people are going to do it, but this
also means if the norm believes that speeding is not right then
people will stop. There are two ways we can spread this way of
thinking to others. One way involves contacting the local police
department and ask them to keep watch in areas where negligent
driving happens. A good example is at my school. We have a
three-way intersection with stop signs at each lane; however,
everyone there drives through them without a second thought. To
solve this, our school asked the police to keep watch, and ever since
then, people have been following the law. The second way requires us
to always drive safely. Even the best drivers will be unfocused when
driving from time to time, but if we truly want the roads to be a
better place, we always have to be attentive when driving. We are
the future of society, and soon, we will be those who the future
generations look up to. By having the habit of safe driving, we can
make it the new normal and pave the way for a better tomorrow.
