Weeding out the few who hurt the many

You’ve already seen the statistics showing how driving has produced more fatalities than the Iraq war and how these fatalities are also a yearly number. It makes you question if it could be you next. If the next time you turn the ignition and roll out of your driveway as usual will be the last time you’re here on this beautiful earth.

We’ve all been in car accidents, well atleast I have. I was in one in 2014, just turned 9 and my mother, brother, and I were on the way to Walmart when we were hit by a lady arguing on the phone with her boyfriend. And to think if this girl hadn’t been holding her phone or even been arguing instead of simply driving a traumatic event like that could’ve been avoided. That’s what a lot of accidents are when you strip it down to the bare basics, complete and utter negligence.

All these accidents and statistics make you sit down and wonder, why was it so difficult for me to get my license at 16 than it is for those older than us? Why did I have to jump through all these hoops when so many others never have to again? So what’s a good idea to combat this? While no one would agree because it would be a pain to do, routine driving tests would help mitigate poor drivers who either got sloppy or had no business ever having a license. But this still would only bring down accidents and casualties down by a minuscule number. To put it simply they’re accidents. And no level of preparation can prevent an accident. They’re unexpected, they’re not planned. You can’t plan driving home tonight and getting T-Boned in the same intersection you drive through daily with no issue. We can and do get taught defensive and offensive driving to avoid these situations but that only does so much in a situation where another’s complete irresponsibility of the road makes you pay the price.

Thankfully all major car manufacturers have taken notice of this and build their cars differently now as opposed to the past. Car accidents are a mainstay for life but build quality has given us a very good way to tackle the situation. A car from the 1970’s will survive a wreck better, sure. But the passengers’ injuries are likely to be much more severe than a car manufactured in 2023. Crumple zones are the big reason for this, they move the energy from the impact along the vehicle’s body which prevents the driver from getting the majority of the blunt blow of the accident. But as good of a solution this is we’re not writing about the quality of today’s automobiles we’re trying to find solutions to the fatalities seen in the day to day task of operating a moving vehicle.

As mentioned, car manufacturers have found a very good solution to reducing injuries and deaths and now we as a society need to find one ourselves. But what can these solutions be? Defensive and offensive driving are key to this, understanding road laws, and rules both spoken and unspoken helps too. Though most “unspoken” rules/laws are very much spoken in written laws. Simple ones range from turning into your proper lane ie. left into left and right into right, looking both ways before turning (similar as walking across the road) and lastly proper signaling and speed amongst many other rules.

Yet such simple tasks such as the ones previously mentioned are like rocket science to many drivers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been cut off by someone that didn’t signal or used the wrong lane to turn, even worse many people have camped in my blindspot. This is why I (and many others) would agree that retests every 5 or so years could help mitigate this. Help both experienced and inexperienced drivers get these laws back fresh in their mind.

To end this off I’ll say this, driving is a thing that we learn at a young age and we’re never tested again to see if we remember all the essentials. It is one of the only things that we’re taught and never have to truly prove again that we know how to do it. It makes sense why, sure. Being able to handle the basic duties of being on the road is example enough to prove this knowledge. But a type of failsafe like more tests to simply assure ourselves that we’re doing more to prevent accidents on the road is always good. I’m not saying that by doing this accidents will now disappear but I am saying that it’s possible they’d be reduced and at least we’d be doing something to mitigate this issue instead of continuing to run and asking ourselves why we keep tripping. Maybe it’s the laces we have in not testing, maybe it’s our form in the way people don’t consistently abide by driver etiquette and the law, or maybe it’s something else entirely. But we need to keep asking these questions to find the answers that’ll truly help us make a closer step to ending this issue.