What can be done to reduce fatal crashes?

Proper driver education is the second most important factor for reducing the number of fatal crashes. Proper driver education will result in fewer deaths. If drivers are properly informed on the rules of the road and the consequences of their actions, they are more likely to avoid doing something stupid with their car that could result in a fatal crash. Without driver education, it is almost impossible to drive safely because driving safely requires adherence to the rules of the road. Driver education is especially important to prevent death at intersections, because at intersections, people take turns driving, and driving into an intersection at the wrong time could result in T-boning another car. Uninformed drivers will not know when it is appropriate to take their turn at the intersection.

The most important way to reduce the number of deaths related to driving is to drill into every member of the population the importance of reducing stress, distractions, and anything else that can impair the driver’s ability to safely drive. Evidence for this is found in the true story of a distracted dad. This dad had young children jumping up and down in the back seat of his truck. The driving dad decided to address this problem while stopped at a stop light. Doubtless the dad was an experienced driver and knew that letting his foot off the brake would cause his truck to inch forward and hit another car. The dad, however, was so distracted by his rowdy children, he was unable to apply this simple safety rule to his driving, and very slowly crashed into the car in front of him. This story did not end in death, but illustrates just how distracting rowdy passengers can be to a driver. If the kids had picked another time to act up such as on the highway, and he had crashed, even if the kids had been wearing seat belts, there is a good chance they would have died. This story illustrates the danger of distractions on the road, and shows that passengers can play a part in making driving safe. In addition to minimizing distractions on the road, drivers must also regulate their brains, and make sure they are in a good position mentally to drive. Drugs, alcohol, and stress all negatively affect a driver’s ability to function, make good decisions, and safely drive. When a good driver is stressed out, they can have a hard time reacting quickly or focusing on what they are doing. Years of prior safe driving will not save them from a crash. It only takes one faulty turn or one tiny mistake to fatally crash. It is best for drivers to wait until they are in the proper emotional state to safely drive to put their hands behind the wheel. Now that the effects of distractions and stress on safe driving have been explained, it is time to tackle the subject of how drugs and alcohol negatively affect safe driving. This topic was very extensively covered in the driver education course Aceable. As Aceable and many other sources have noted, drugs and alcohol negatively affect drivers’s ability to focus and make good decisions. Given how this is a very well known fact, and even if not every driver is aware of just how badly drugs and alcohol will affect their brains, they still know to stay away from drugs and alcohol, the most effective way to reduce the number of crashes related to drug and alcohol use is not to educate drivers on the effects of drugs and alcohol, but to scare them away from using drugs and alcohol. Aceable also does a very good job of this.

From all that has been said so far, it is clear that driving education is very important for reducing the number of deadly crashes on the road, and in addition to teaching the laws of the road, driver education should teach drivers to gain control of the distractions in their cars, refrain from driving while under extreme stress, and never drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol. It is not enough, however to tell rule breakers not to use drugs and alcohol. In order to stop people from driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, they must be scared away from drugs and alcohol. If these changes are implemented, many of the causes for fatal crashes will be addressed, and the number of fatal crashes resulting from drugs, alcohol, stress, and distractions will be eliminated.