Active and Reactive Driving

“Megan, I need you to call 911 for me,” my dad yells. The driver in the silver sudan is pulling up beside us, swerving into the other side of the road, dodging oncoming traffic. I call and put the phone on speaker mode.

My dad tries to explain that he is in the middle of an incident involving road rage. The other driver cut us off, and now he is trying to run us off the road. What he does not tell the operator is that he showed the first signs of aggression, not the man in the sudan. Rather than allowing the other man to merge into our lane, my dad chose to drive perfectly level with the other car, all because the other car tried to pull in front of him when my dad already let another car in. Eventually, the other car cuts ours off, resulting in an exchange of hand signals and curses. My dad chooses to tailgate this other car and honk repeatedly, causing the man in the other car to get in the lane to our left and attempt to run us off the road.

What my dad and this other man chose to do not only endangered themselves, but endangered the three children my dad was driving to a softball game. Instead of just letting this man merge in, my dad chose to block him off. Instead of continuing to drive normally after being cut off, my dad chose to display aggression. This type of driving, involving aggression, was involved in 54% of fatal car accidents in 2022, according to the American Automobile Association. These fatalities are not only the aggressive drivers, but also the children, loved ones, and friends of those drivers. Sometimes, even pedestrians are involved as well. It is unsafe for everyone on and near the road.

During this incident, my dad realized that it was unsafe to pick up the phone and dial 911, hence why he had me do it, but he did not shy away when it came to challenging another driver. A huge step that people need to take when thinking about their road safety is how they react to stressful situations. Yes, the man in the Sudan should have just merged in behind us instead of trying to force his way in, but that does not justify my dad’s reaction.

I am not arguing that everyone should drive timidly. In fact, timid drivers are also involved in a disproportionate number of road accidents. However, an inability to control one’s anger leads people to act in ways that they never would have otherwise. One of the things I learned in driver education is that I must both be aware of what I am doing and what others are doing. Perhaps this is why, according to the American Automobile Association, young people that receive driver education are 40% less likely to be involved in an injury or fatal accident. Driver education teaches that people will make mistakes when driving, as will I. The important thing is that I do not allow for little mistakes to lead to big mistakes. Noticing that someone is about to merge into me and backing off while alerting them by honking is a must. This required level-headedness. Staying calm and staying aware of one’s surroundings is necessary for safe driving.

While I took my driver education course, the instructor showed the class videos depicting the results of people who drove recklessly, angrily, or distractedly. The consequences of driving like this are not things that we just see in the news. These are real people whose lives are permanently altered. To be a better driver, people must realize the consequences of their actions. Even though nothing happened this one time, that does not mean that nothing will happen the next. All that is needed for an accident to occur is one driver to lack awareness of their surroundings and another to drive carelessly. All it takes is for two drivers with short tempers to meet.

We cannot control other drivers, but we can decide to pay attention and stay level-headed. For those other drivers, we rely on our state’s driver education to teach them to do the same. Through driver education, we each become less likely to become the collateral damage of someone else’s mistake. Additionally, students who take driver education tend to feel more confident and less stressed when driving. Stress is often a precursor to anger, so by producing less-stressed drivers, driver education also effectively reduces instances of road rage. Through driver education, there are fewer drivers who react like my dad under stress, and there are fewer people like the man in the silver sudan who will engage with and reciprocate his anger.