The Dangers of Driving

Cars are extremely dangerous machines. They weigh in at 2000+ pounds, the average car can go from a dead stop to traveling a mile every minute in 8 seconds, and there are a lot of them in our modern society. How have we, as a society, allowed so many Americans to use these death machines whenever they please for the most menial tasks? Because we have faith in our rules and regulations. Traffic laws are crucial for making driving much safer, however, more can be done to make the roads as safe as possible.

Rules add predictability to driving which reduces the chances of accidents due to confusion and serve as a deterrent for recklessness. Erase all driving knowledge from your head for a second, let’s say you’re driving and you arrive at a stop sign at the same time as two other cars, what do you do? If everyone is patient enough, you might be able to visually communicate with all the other drivers on who should go first, but if any of you don’t feel like being as safe as possible, you might just drive and hope the others don’t try to go at the same time. This is wishful thinking and there will likely be a good few times when two or more people of the same “I’m going now, good luck everybody else” ideology get in an accident. However, if everyone knew the rules, it would be very simple: the person on your right goes first, and if there is no one on your right, it’s your turn. There are many more situations like this where knowing the rules of the road make situations much simpler and safer.

Despite the traffic laws that keep us safe, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 42,795 car-related deaths occurred in 2022. How is this possible with all of the robust rules we have to make driving safer? As it turns out, people can ignore rules, break laws, or generally drive irresponsibly without being punished very often. I have seen this first hand, my Dad has a horrible habit of looking at his phone and texting while driving, which is 6 times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Although I am not innocent myself, I have sped well past the speed limit on late nights when I figured no one else was around.

Humans aren’t perfect, and you cannot always rely on them to do the responsible thing; so, in order for the roads to be as safe as possible, technology can be employed. Technology is already being used to make driving safer from auto brake systems that detect when cars stop too fast in front of you, lane assist that keeps you from drifting out of your lane, and blind spot detection indicators that make sure you don’t miss cars in your blind spot. I have seen these safety features at work first hand with my distracted Dad, the lane assist in particular comes into play often when he decides to look at his phone.

One might suggest that safety features like this promote irresponsible driving since drivers may assume the car will make up for their mistakes, but I propose that these same drivers would drive recklessly anyways. I don’t believe that a reckless driver begins driving recklessly because they have safety features to protect them, that would be the same as saying that safe drivers start driving recklessly when they realize technology is helping protect them. I would say that reckless drivers use safety features as an excuse for reckless driving, rather than motivation.

Although there are technological advancements which take humans out of the equation entirely. Imagine there were no humans, and every car on a highway communicated with the cars around it to ensure traffic flowed as smoothly as possible and cars getting on or off the highway could do so with the ultimate ease. Self-Driving cars would remove the opportunity humans have to drive recklessly and endanger others, although there are many improvements to be made before Self-Driving cars are completely reliable.

Regardless, let’s refocus on technology that is available to drivers today. Reducing the danger of driving through technological safety features will not help much if the rules of the road aren’t known in the first place. Furthermore, technology is not the only way to reduce reckless driving, passengers can take the initiative to discuss bad driving habits with drivers and try to help them understand the gravity of their actions. In the end, with humans behind the wheel, driving will always be dangerous, built in safety features and technology like self-driving cars can reduce the risk, but adhering to the rules of the road and practicing good habits will not fail modern day drivers.