Driving and Other Dangerous Activities

Driver’s education is our first defense in reducing the number of driving related deaths. Knowing the baseline functions of your car, the meaning of road signs, and what to do when driving near a truck on the road is not enough. There are too many crucial skills that new drivers skimp through learning–and more importantly–memorizing because they have the mentality of, “It won’t happen to me”. Rules like what you do when your car starts hydroplaning, or when the engine starts smoking, or even when the traffic lights stop working at a four-way intersection. These are valuable skills that are learned during Driver’s Ed and then mentally discarded once a Learner’s Permit and later a Full Driver’s License is placed into a new driver’s hands.

How do I know this? Because I have seen the posts and heard my peers talk about how they would not know what to do in such situations and how glad they are that nothing like that has ever happened to them. There needs to be steps taken to mitigate the risks that are posed to drivers on the road in very real but somewhat rare situations. Luckily, I have taken some time to piece together some steps that we can take as a society to make getting behind the wheel less likely to be a death sentence.

First, we should instate a bi-annual mandatory re-education course that goes over important information to know in a driving emergency. This would reduce the amount of people who panic in dangerous situations because they are not prepared or don’t know what to do. In addition to these mandatory bi-annual sessions, I also think that we need to have people retake the driving test every five years. Now, while this may seem excessive and a pain to go through, consistently being tested on how to properly conduct oneself on the road will save so many lives in the long run. Too many people become lax as the time stretches on from when they received their Full Driver’s License. People start believing that it’s okay to speed up on a yellow light to avoid having to wait when the light turns red. Or maybe they start taking the speed limit as a suggestion rather a rule put in place to keep everyone on the roads safe. The point is, if the rules of the road and proper driving etiquette are not only enforced but tested on a regular basis, people will be more likely to maintain those habits in between tests.

It is so important that we always take driving seriously, not just when a tragedy happens. I’ve seen too many times when someone dies because of distracted driving–either done by themselves or others– and there will be an uptick in awareness and posts about not being on your phone while driving. But by the month’s end everyone is back to their old ways of driving that has caused so many deaths and accidents. This is something I feel so passionately about partly because I have been in an accident caused by a distracted driver. Me and my older sister and brother were on the way to see the latest Marvel movie in theaters with my grandmother driving the car. All of a sudden everyone is jerked forward by a loud thud–the force of another car hitting our trunk. My brother had been recovering from a concussion, so this jolt was very worrying to everyone in the car, especially me who was the youngest person in the vehicle. While we were left unscathed by the crash–minus the missed movie and trunk that was permanently dented closed– I’ve never forgotten what it had been like in that moment of the accident. All of which was caused by a driver who was distracted by their phone while driving.

Driving is a beautiful thing. It gives people freedom, a haven, a place to hold cherished memories with their family and other loved ones. But it is also something that can result in untimely death if we do not take it seriously and take the necessary steps to ensure that driving stays something that people can look forward to instead of dread. I understand that in today’s society and especially my generation, Gen Z, that timing is everything. Whether it be how long you’ve been left on delivered or how much time between when you posted that Instagram story and when your crush liked it. But when it comes to driving, there is no reason to rush anything–not yellow lights, not the speed limit, and especially not that text on your phone that can certainly wait until you get to your destination. Everyone deserves to have a deathless experience on the road and by taking the steps I outlined and being more aware of our own problematic and dangerous behaviors while driving, we can help make that experience a reality.