In the Driver’s Seat

Imagine yourself as your 15-year-old self. You know that you are close to that age of being able to drive. You’re excited for the opportunity to be able to go fast and have fun on the road, and to have the freedom to go where ever you wish. But then, you experience a sudden reality check. You realize that having the privilege to drive is not as simple as just getting behind the wheel and going. So, you decide that when the time comes to take that driver’s education class, you’ll pay attention, because you know that it may cost you your life if you don’t.

Driver’s education (or driver’s ed to the typical teenager) is more than just learning the rules of the road. Sure, you learn about the different road signs, how to drive near train tracks, and to always check your blind side. You also learn about driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, or even fatigue. While all of these topics are very important to one’s safety, the topic that I took away as the most important would be defensive driving. According to Safe Motorist, defensive driving is “essentially driving in a manner that utilizes safe driving strategies to enable motorists to address identified hazards in a predictable manner.” To me this means taking every turn with caution, always checking my mirrors and blind spots, and not being distracted while driving, such as by using a cell phone or being incapacitated by alcohol or drugs. Of course, the entire purpose of driver’s education is to teach youth how to be safe and therefore hopefully decrease the number of traffic accidents each year.

There are a number of steps that can be taken to make one a safer driver on the road, and thereby reducing the number of deaths related to driving. One of the most obvious is to avoid the use of alcohol and drugs while driving. These substances affect one’s inhibitions and can affect reaction time. They can also affect your vision, potentially making you think that you’re in your lane on the road when you’re actually in the lane of oncoming traffic. Another obvious way to become a safer driver is to put away the cell phone. If you’re looking at a text on your cell phone or at a map, you’re not looking at the road and are therefore increasing your response time in the case of an emergency. In fact, many U.S. states have already taken the step to reducing deaths related to driving by illegalizing all cell phone use other than hand’s free. Hand’s free cell phone use suggests that your phone is connected to the vehicle via Bluetooth, so if you do receive or need to make a call, the vehicle can do it so that you don’t have to physically touch your phone.

Another step to decrease the number of driving related deaths is to drive the speed limit, not over. Even if you’re not inhibited by alcohol, drugs, cell phone use, or any other distraction, it will still take longer to stop when full brakes are applied when driving above the speed limit than driving at or below the speed limit. This is because the friction between the tires and the road must act for a longer amount of time to stop the vehicle. While many people may be very good about not driving under the influence, the majority of people consistently drive over the speed limit to get to their destination faster. Most people even know that there is a sweet range of 1-5 mph above the speed limit where one can’t be fined for driving over the speed limit. However, driving over the speed limit can cause one to lose control of the vehicle or end up rear ending some stopped at a traffic light.

I am fortunate that I nor members of my immediate family have not been in a major road accident. My family and I are also fairly smart drivers, not driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and limiting our use of cell phones. But I will admit that my family, myself included, have been known to speed on occasion. Normally, that is only in the 1-5 mph over range that was discussed earlier, meaning we aren’t getting pulled over for speeding. But that doesn’t mean that we will never get pulled over or end up in an accident. I think we take for granted the fact that we are rarely pulled over and never in accidents, and that may make us more complacent to driving over the speed limit.

Some of the previously-described steps to becoming a better driver are practices that I already use in my daily life. As someone that does not drink or do drugs, I don’t need to worry about getting in a vehicle and endangering myself and others. In the future however, I could make a more conscious effort to simply shut down my phone completely or put it in the back seat, as well as driving only up to the speed limit and not crossing it. I know that these efforts will make me a safer driver and will help prevent me from ending up in a life-altering accident.