Preventing Car Crash Fatalities: A Proposal to Effectively Combine Driver Education with Shifts in Societal Standards

Eight teenagers. That is how many teens die due to car crashes in the United States every day (“Teen Drivers and Passengers,” 2022). That is how many families lives’ are ripped apart every day. 

What makes this number so tragic is that these deaths are completely preventable. The suffering of their families comes down to a single impulsive or rash decision made in a single moment. 

As Americans, we have become numb to the sight of this devastation. Traffic slows to a crawl as curious commuters crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the carnage. Few give a thought to the lost lives that are represented by the wreck. Fewer still remember the solemnity of that scene after the speed of traffic has picked up and they are cruising along the highway as before. Is there anyone who allows the sight of a crash to remind them of the fragility of life and make them determined to not allow themselves or their loved ones to suffer the same fate? 

Fatal car accidents cannot be a source of inconvenience on our way to work. They cannot be an invitation to gawk or pry into the suffering of others. Car crashes must become a symbol that evokes immense mourning over the lives forever altered and create a refusal to accept these events as normal. “Motor vehicles are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens,” writes the CDC (“Teen Driver and Passenger Safety,” 2022). This is unacceptable. We cannot stand idly by as the next generation disappears, not because of drugs or alcohol or chronic illness, but because of irresponsible driving. 

As we begin to have a conversation about how to respond to this crisis, it is apparent that if we are ever going to change these shocking statistics, it is vital that we better prepare young drivers for the road. Every day, people die as a direct result of speeding, distracted driving, and a lack of seatbelts (“Teen Drivers and Passengers,” 2022). The problem is not that people do not know that these things are dangerous. It is that they do not understand the weight of their decisions. Everyone should know the basic statistics about the dangers of distracted or reckless driving. But even that is not enough. 

The United States Department of Transportation points out that driving produces a sense of isolation from those around you (“Speeding,” n.d.). Each driver is in their own little bubble, so to speak. They cannot see the drivers around them, and other drivers cannot see them. Similar to the way that people feel free to say things they normally would not on social media because they can hide behind their phones, drivers can hide behind their tinted windows and behave aggressively toward other drivers in a manner that they would never otherwise do. The Department of Transportation explains that this produces a “sense of detachment.” Reckless drivers lack the ability to understand the consequences that their actions will have on others, especially strangers that they will never see again. In reality, one rash decision could change an entire family’s future irrevocably. 

So how do we begin to tackle this overwhelming issue? In 2018, the Rand Corporation put together a group of analysts to dream of a solution to fatal car crashes (Ecola et al, 2018). They imagined a world where zero car crashes resulted in a fatality in the United States by 2050. As improbable as this may seem to the modern American, the suggested solutions presented by the Rand Corporation are surprisingly practical. They propose that modern technology, updated infrastructure, and streamlining the professional response time to collisions could help to prevent crashes and reduce the effects after a crash has occurred. Beyond these practical approaches, the Rand Corporation’s most compelling solution is to revolutionize the cultural attitude surrounding car crash fatalities. For example, they propose that if Americans collectively decided that it is unacceptable to put precious lives in danger for something as shallow as getting to your destination on time, then we might stand a chance to make fatal car crashes a thing of the past. 

Driver education is invaluable and is a necessary part of preparing new drivers for the responsibilities of the road. However, education alone will not change the status quo. For teen drivers especially, driver education must be reinforced by the culture around them, not just by their parents. Peer pressure is a real threat to safe driving. At a stage when feeling accepted is prioritized, teenagers feel that seatbelts are lame and that ‘close calls’ are a sign of skill rather than a flirtation with death. Aggressive driving is not only accepted; it is joked about. Some people admit to being an aggressive driver as if they are proud of the fact. If this is the reality of our culture, no wonder driver education alone appears to not make a difference. 

My family experienced the consequences of this firsthand back in 2007. As my uncle and his wife were driving home on the freeway one day, a car slammed into the driver’s side of the vehicle, fatally injuring my uncle and seriously harming my aunt. The driver took off and we will never know the reason that my uncle’s life was taken away so abruptly. Perhaps the driver chose to drink and drive. Perhaps they got distracted and lost control of the car. Perhaps they were annoyed at a driver around them and began to drive aggressively to prove a point. Regardless of the reason, that decision cost my uncle his life. 

Growing up, I went to my uncle’s gravesite with my grandparents each year. My family held hands and gathered around his gravestone, and watched in teary silence as my sturdy, dependable grandfather tried to say a few words and never could.

Recently a cruel twist of fate caused my grandparents to suffer through this event again, sixteen years later. Their best friend’s granddaughter was hit by a speeding driver and driven into a tree trunk. Rushed to the ICU, her family waits to know whether she will ever awake from her coma. Listening to my grandmother’s voice breaking as she sits alone by the phone waiting for news, reliving the darkest time of her life, my heart breaks. 

The craziest part of this story is imagining the might-have-been. My aunt and uncle might have had children one day. Christmas and Thanksgiving would have looked radically different. I could have had another row of family watching proudly during graduation. Countless anniversaries, birthdays, and milestones that might have been. But these things will never be. 

Despite growing up watching the real-life consequences of car crashes, I am not always a safe driver. There were times when I pushed the speed limit a little because I left the house a couple minutes late. There were times when I was desperate not to miss a turn and made a maneuver that was probably too risky. These have all turned out alright, but the reality is that there is no guarantee that it will remain that way. After researching these statistics, I have been convicted about my own recklessness. I began to implement a few small things to help myself be a more responsible driver. First, I try to take a moment before I even turn the engine on to remember that the lives of each of my passengers is in my hands. I let myself feel the weight of that. Secondly, I refuse to give in to the temptation to speed. I remind myself as I drive that it is better to be safe now than sorry for a lifetime afterward. Since I began to implement these small changes in my mindset, I have caught myself beginning to drive too fast many times and have consciously decided to slow to safer speed. 

This is a weighty topic. Few things in life have such real and irreversible consequences as reckless driving. As Americans, we must decide that enough is enough and refuse to take the responsibility of driving lightly. If we can pair societal shifts with educational efforts, I am confident that no more families need to suffer from preventable tragedies. 

Works Cited:

“Distracted Driving.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26 Apr. 2022, www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/distracted_driving/index.html. 

Ecola, Liisa, et al. “Could U.S. Road Deaths Reach Zero by 2050?” RAND Corporation, 19 Apr. 2018, www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2333.html. 

“Speeding.” (n.d.) NHTSA, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding. Accessed 31 July 2023. 

“Teen Driver and Passenger Safety.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Nov. 2022, www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/teen_drivers/index.html. 

“Teen Drivers and Passengers: Get the Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Nov. 2022, www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/teen_drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html.