Change is a Matter of Life or Death

Needless car deaths seem to be rising more rapidly than society is able to manage. The causes seem to fall into one of three main reasons; passenger distraction, smart phone availability, and lack of seat belt usage.

Currently many states implement provisional licenses to new drivers allowing for one non-related passenger to be present during the provisional period. While it is clear that many families simply ignore this, some of the worst culprits are school athletic teams/ extracurricular activity groups. In many cases, the coaches and captains illegitimately require the upperclassmen to drive lowerclassmen to practices, games, and events. Many of these drivers are newly licensed and are breaking the law outright. In other cases, while not breaking the law, these drivers are relatively inexperienced. This is partially a result of many students obtaining their licenses at an older age, often seventeen years old or older. Spreading the responsibility by holding schools, parents, and teen drivers liable for violating these rules could help to curb the behavior. Secondly, extending the provisional licensing would allow new drivers more time to become experienced drivers. Encouraging adherence to the rules would require stricter and more wide-reaching consequences. Long periods of temporary losses of license, strong fines, and obligatory in-person educational seminars for parents and students, and hefty fines for school districts could aid in change.

Additionally, though information of the dangers of using cell phones while driving is abundant, the temptation is too great. Most modern cars with navigation systems are equipped with a function disallowing setting GPS assistance while the car is in motion. If a mandatory standard phone app update which disallowed any functioning of the phone while the car was in motion, significant numbers of drivers, adults included, would be incapable of using his or her phone while driving. Also, the device that many insurance companies require new drivers to install to check speeding and quick braking, may be able to be modified to create a cell phone block. Anyone driving down the street one can look around and see constant phone use. Heavier police ticketing with high fines for phone usage could help, as well.

Finally, there seems to be a growing movement among teens to avoid seat belt use. Their sense of invincibility overcomes their sensibilities. Sadly, two Decembers ago, I lost two friends in fatal car accidents. One friend died instantaneously, the other’s treating physician felt he might have lived had he been wearing a seat belt. Car makers have the ability to turn the front seat airbags on and off depending on seat weight. Using similar technology coupled with with the click the seat belt connection, cars could be kept from moving from the parking position into drive or reverse. Therefore, disallowing the drivers to move the car until all chairs with weight are seatbelt engaged. This initiates the question of what to do when someone puts groceries into a chair or when someone uses a seatbelt but moves the shoulder strap behind their back. Buckling our groceries in might be necessary and safer as the force of an item traveling through space times the speed the car is accelerating is the impact level of that hypothetical bottle of water that hits the driver in the head. Additionally, if manufacturers insert a sensor into the belt top it would determine whether the seatbelt is against the chair or rounded across a sternum. There is no perfect solution, however, improvement is possible. Any life saved is vital. In the meantime, we wait for technology to catch up. Finally, we must rely on large fines for failure to legally comply.

I personally struggle with using the phone while driving. Whether it is to find music or text someone, putting my phone out of reach or in do not disturb mode as I am driving would help remove some of the temptation. I could also start a campaign at my high school to encourage students to be attentive to these three areas of driving. While I think that driver education in these areas is vital and should continue, I do not think it is currently effective. Even people who have near misses, get scared and then revert to their previous behaviors. This is why I believe change will only occur when some of the responsibility for these behaviors is taken out of the hands of the drivers. While there is no guarantee, these changes could significantly decrease the percentages of unnecessary car deaths in the United States.