Keeping our Roads Safe

Many individuals have experienced the joy of receiving a driver’s permit, driving around with friends, and being able to have the freedom to travel wherever they want. At the age of 16, many are able to drive for the first time. To them, it’s the start of a new beginning and the mark of growing out of adolescence. Yet, what many don’t realize is that with this new accomplishment, comes many responsibilities. Not only are you responsible for your actions in the driver’s seat, but the lives of others are also dependent on you. In the United States, an estimated 43,000 individuals were the victims of motor vehicle fatalities in 2021. Worldwide, numbers are heightened to an astonishing 1.3 million deaths. This may seem like just a number on a statistic to some, but to many, this is a loved one lost to another common traffic incident.

At the age of eight, I experienced a traffic accident that at my young age, made me aware of the importance of traffic safety. On the drive back from my cousin’s house, the rear end of my mom’s car was hit and injured her. She was pregnant with my sister and the fear I felt as an eight-year-old, having no idea how to support and care for her, left me feeling helpless. What was supposed to be a family trip to a relative’s house, left me conscious of the dangers of reckless driving. Though this experience was unfortunate, it also left me with individual habits and rules I follow to keep me safe and attentive while driving. If we long for the safety of those on the road, we have to hold ourselves accountable and make changes in our personal habits and practices as well. The causes of many of these accidents, like poor decision-making, unawareness, and lack of driver’s education have solutions that we can put in place for the welfare of our drivers and passengers.

The familiar “Don’t Text While Driving” expression is frequently used, but is still insignificant to many. The message from a friend or coworker can wait, but the family waiting for their loved one to return safely can’t. As a driver, it is important to remove distractions that could steer your attentiveness outside of driving. This doesn’t only apply to cellular devices. If you are distracted by the radio, music playing in your car, or food that you have within your reach, it is necessary to know what distracts you and to remove the possibility of letting it take your sights off the road. physical disturbances should be removed, just as emotional ones too. Too often, a person decides to go for a drive while in a bad mental state, putting not only themselves at risk, but other people as well. A person’s anger or sadness can easily cloud their judgment and move their attention outside of driving. Fortunately, there are many solutions to this problem. One can simply turn off their ringer; They can keep their phone far from them in the car and turn on the “Do Not Disturb” button. As for keeping a safe emotional state while driving, individuals should hold themselves accountable and decide for themselves whether or not it is safe for them to drive, and depending on the situation, there is always someone, like a friend or worker in the transportation industry, that can drive you safely to your intended location. It is important as a driver to hold accountability for removing any distractions and staying aware on the road.

Though we should hold responsibility for our safety, stronger laws regarding traffic safety should be implemented as well. Driving under the influence, speeding, and disobeying rules are occurrences that continue to affect people’s safety on our roads, not only in America but worldwide. It is sad to fathom that life could be lost due to the irresponsibility of another. We should be quick to penalize those who have continuous incidents with drunk driving and speeding and let the first time be the last. Currently, more road safety efforts have been implemented. Whether it’s changing road design to keep drivers awake and alert or changes in laws to make sure your vehicle’s maneuvers are up to date, these new implementations allow citizens to depend on the law for their protection on the road. It is mandatory to hold the rules of the road to every driver and to make sure to hold the occurrences of accidents to a minimum. Some may decide to speed or drive under the influence because they carry an “it won’t happen to me” mentality,’’ but many times a person running late or needing to return home from a college party decides to go for a drive with little self-control and ends up in dangerous predicaments. Even going at an 85 mph speed in an 80 mph speed zone is dangerous enough. As a driver, it is important to know the rules of the road and to strictly follow them.

As a society, we’ve grown heavily dependent on motor vehicles as a source of transportation. It is important that all drivers go through a proper driver’s education class and have the ability to properly practice the utilization of a motor vehicle. A 2021 Research has shown that compared to 75 percent of individuals that are likely to be involved in an accident, those with driver’s education experience have a lower chance at 24 percent. Driver’s education classes not only benefit the individual taking them, but they also help keep the roads safe for everybody. As a part of each class, you’ll learn to be a defensive driver and how to reduce the likelihood of an accident. As a high schooler, I’ve seen many of my friends not put in the necessary effort needed in the classes. Many throw it off as something unnecessary and a waste of time. They fail to grasp the seriousness of these classes and the good it’ll do for them as a driver. With each class, inexperienced drivers learn to be more aware of their responsibilities on the road. As we hold more drivers accountable and emphasize the importance of safety behind the wheel, many can expect to become reliable and rational drivers. Causes of traffic accidents vary, but as individuals take driver’s education seriously, limit distractions in the driver’s seat, and strictly follow the rules of the road, we can ensure a safer environment for everyone. Personally, when I drive and I want to experience the comfort of driving with music, I have someone else control the Bluetooth. I silence my phone so that the sound doesn’t distract me from my responsibilities on the road, and I continue to practice driving defensively. Though the issue of traffic fatality is one that’ll continue to affect our nation, these changes we apply as individuals and a society are ones that will progressively keep our roads safe.