Risk, Illusion and Self Awareness: How being more aware can save lives

Movement is fundamental to the nature of humans today. We are mobile creatures with a need to be social. Getting from point A to B is something that we have always tried to make more efficient and safe. In the 16th century they began using horse-drawn carriages in the West, but little did they know that that was just a catalyst for the barrage of new and exciting modes of transport to come during the 17th and 18th centuries: bicycles, trains, planes, buses, trams, and of course, cars. Cars were unique in that they offered a personal experience where you, the driver, are in control of your own journey but weren’t limited to travelling alone – as others could fit in for the ride too. This also meant that you were now completely in control of how safe you were on the roads and had a direct impact on everyone else’s safety too. Driver safety wasn’t something that automatically came with the new rise of cars. In fact, it wasn’t until 1959 that the three-point seat belt was invented by Nils bohlin. What does this tell me? It tells me that there’s always improvements that can be made to driver safety, either through engineering or through our own learning and education of road safety evolving too over time.

As I acknowledged above, there have been many modes of transport introduced into our way of life, but it may be surprising to some that roads are unquestionably the most dangerous. Before I explain why, let me introduce you to MicroMorts¹. A MicroMort is a one-in-a-million chance of death, acting as little units that help us see danger in terms of daily life. They’re risks reduced to a daily rate on a consistent scale. So, daily risk is about 1 MicroMort, a one-in-a-million chance of something horribly and fatally dramatic happening to the average person on an average day spent doing average, everyday things. One MicroMort in other words is a benchmark for living normally. There are various ways you can decide to spend your daily 1MM ration. For example you may choose to ride a bike for 25 miles, or drive a car for 300 miles – both of these equate to exactly 1 MicroMort. You can also partake in or experience things that exceed your daily MicroMort allowance like working in a mine or undergoing an operation.

In 2010 our average annual risk of dying on the roads was about 31 MircoMorts. Since the average dose of acute fatal risk from external causes is about 150 MicroMorts a year (roughly one a day) this means that something like 9% of that risk in the UK is on the road. Relative to trains and planes, it is on average far more dangerous per mile to drive wherever there is traffic. But how many believe they’re average? Most people think they’re better than that – a self-confidence known, naturally enough, as the ‘above-average effect’ or ‘illusory superiority’². It’s illusory, since, of course, only half of drivers can be put in the top half; but as humans we have a tendency to overestimate our own abilities. I believe this is why self awareness is a key to improving road safety. Being able to identify your ability means you can work on where you need to improve or what areas of driving theory you need to remind yourself of. Interestingly, above average driving ability has the capability to cause one to become over confident and sometimes so cocky on the roads that they actually become a bigger hazard. Illusory superiority is also linked to an illusion of control: the idea that with the wheel in our grasp our fate is in our own capable hands and not at the mercy of someone else. This is where self awareness becomes invaluable, because it reminds the driver that they’re not only in control of their own safety, but everyone’s around them. In summary, the risk of death or injury on the roads is subject to all manner of psychological filters and questions of interpretation.

What recent history has also shown us is that the quality of driving hasn’t actually improved enough to reduce the number of accidents and injuries occurring, so we still have work to do in relation to road safety and education. In 1950, there were 4.4 million vehicles registered in Britain. In 2010 there were 8 times as many, which after the growth of the population equals a rise from one vehicle for every 11 people to one for every 2 people. But if we look at the numbers in 1950 there were 167,000 accidents with 196,000 injuries and in 2010 almost the same: 100,154 accidents with 207,000 injuries. This means that people still crash into each other about 400 times a day! While the proportion of these accidents that are fatal has thankfully dropped staggeringly, this is not so much to do with drivers being more sensible but rather due to speed limits, safety features and improved and quicker medical care.

So, who bares the risk? In richer countries, such as the UK and USA, the majority of road fatalities are the occupants of cars, whereas in poorer countries it’s what’s known as ‘vulnerable road users’. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that road traffic injuries will go from its current 9th position in the cause-of-death league table to 5th place by 2030, causing 2.4 million deaths (as well as between 20 and 50 million injuries), largely of young people, and at enormous cost to the economies³. The fact that it will be largely young people who are victims, sadly doesn’t surprise me. As a young person myself, I’ve witnessed first hand what can happen when our peers do reckless things and make life-threatening decisions in the name of a good time. I’ve been in a car where the driver, also my age, not only put his life at risk as he swerved on the motorway between lanes for fun – weaving in and out of huge trucks and going at outrageous speeds – but also put my life and everyone else in that car’s lives at risk too.

I remember a close shave. A moment when all of our hearts stopped as he made a quick swerve into another lane, almost hitting a truck that would’ve ended in a lethal high speed collision. I remember wishing I’d been more assertive in telling him to stop messing around on the roads and that’s why today I believe that one of the most important steps to reducing the number of deaths by driving is to hold your friends and family accountable. You don’t know whose life you could be saving by reminding them to put on their seatbelt, pointing out they’re going over the speed limit or telling them not to drive because they’ve drank too much alcohol. You also could be saving your own life, as a driver, by refreshing your knowledge of driving regulations and rules regularly, so that you’re always being as safe as you can be and ensuring you’re not putting other drivers or pedestrians at risk. For myself, I want to take steps to becoming confident on the road and having confidence in my road safety knowledge as I believe that confident drivers who are assured in their ability to be safe are the best drivers.