The one who goes slowly, goes safely

Last Friday was the second time I picked up the phone and I was told my friend had had problems related to driving. Last year he had an accident, this time he was speeding and he got his license revoked. Luckily, he’s doing well. But I hate those types of calls; I don’t want to receive them anymore.

Let’s imagine a Cartesian plane where the vertical axis is technological progress and the horizontal one is danger. Throughout Human history, they’ve been growing in direct proportionality; The graphical representation would be an exponential curve in the first quadrant. Progress brings plenty of pros, including making our everyday lives easier; but it also might trigger danger, and cars are the perfect example of that subject. According to WHO (World Health Organization), approximately 1.3 million people die every year because of road traffic crashes worldwide. In Italy, my Home Country, the number of deaths was 2,875 in 2021 (+20% from 2020, Istat data), while it was 42,915 in the US (CNBC data). I don’t usually like numbers, but you can’t close an eye on these ones. It genuinely hurts. But what hurts, even more, is that my generation doesn’t seem interested at all in changing the situation. Sadly, a scary percentage of young people are driving recklessly on a daily basis, putting other drivers and themselves at risk. I am not talking about a minor injury; I am talking about a parent picking up the phone and coldly being told their kid didn’t make it after crashing. What can I do? What can we all do? Changing is never easy, especially when it comes to such a gigantic issue; but what we have now is not working, or at least not as it could. I believe it’s our responsibility to stand up, take a mic and speak to the world about how we can do better.

I’d like to use reform over revolution as my plan’s description. Both words imply changes, but a revolution erases what was before, while a reform might save what already worked, and replace what needed improvement. I do believe driving education and common sense are theoretically correct, but we need a reagent to get what is correct on paper to actually work. My friend knew he couldn’t speed up to 120km/h on a 70km/h road, but he still did it.

“Better safe than sorry”. We must start from education, because education is non-other than training for real life. School shouldn’t be different from what the outside world is. These two things just aren’t separated. When we learn how to drive, we are already living part of the road, and after we get our driving licenses, we are still students on the same road. Let’s start from what already working quite well in driving schools, which, to me, is driving practice. I am going to talk about my experience in Italy, but I am quite sure it is kind of similar all over the world. After a couple of months spent studying how to behave in a car on a road with other people, you get literally thrown on that road; no experience, just theoretical knowledge, and mutual faith between you and your instructor. But that’s what I believe we need, in order to learn. Driving needs practice, we all need to get our hands dirty. On the other hand, driving lessons are very expensive, and that is a major problem. They cost the same for everybody, but every family has a different financial situation. I feel like it could be based on your household income, for example. I personally got to a point where I couldn’t go to driving school every time I wanted, or needed because it was too expensive. If I had that power, another aspect I would love to introduce into practical driving classes would be what to do/who to call/how to stay calm if any accident happens; or, who to ask/where to go/how much it costs when something related to your vehicle isn’t working properly. It is so important to hold the ability to save someone. In Italy, we’re not taught that. I don’t know if I would be able to give a person in need the support he needs. I want that to change so bad.

The big question mark that arises in my mind is: “Well, if everybody is taught how to drive correctly, why don’t we simply do it?”. Basically, until many drivers get caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing, they actually do whatever they want. It is very sad, and wrong; but it is as true as wrong. They could grow controls, tickets, and other restrictions, but that wouldn’t work; that isn’t working. Automotive Industries might come up with an answer. Why do they design cars that can speed up twice as much as the freeway speed limit? Can they put a device that knows the road you’re driving on specific speed limit, and keep you at that speed the moment you try to pass it? I don’t have an answer to our problems; I wouldn’t be writing this essay if I knew the key to extinguishing driving-related deaths. Maybe no one holds that key. Does it even exist? I just got ideas I am soiling pixels with.

Furthermore, what makes road safety a hot potato to hold is that we aren’t the only ones holding it. It is so easy to make a mistake, but too hard, and sometimes impossible, to fix it. Now multiply this risk for every single driver. We’re not alone on the road, and we should act cautiously. If everybody focuses on this, we can do better. We can do more. I can talk to my friend who isn’t the most prudent driver ever. I can let him know what call I don’t want to answer anymore. We should raise our voices until the topside’s ears hiss. Last, we have to take a self-check. We need to ask ourselves what we’re doing wrong, and why are doing things that way. Where can those little actions we do unintentionally lead?

I am a little man writing an essay only a few will read. What I also think is that I have valid ideas. Everybody does. I don’t know which path might lead us to success in reforming driving education and attitude. I am not even here for that; maybe I should say “not only”. I believe it is possible to change status though. I hope some people will enjoy reading my thoughts. I wish I will get the financial help I need to chase my dream, and maybe later I will put all of myself into the pursuit of helping to save the world.