Why highways are deadlier than WWI

I live just off of US 19, one of the most dangerous roads in the country. It’s estimated that there is an accident on US 19 every 1.25 miles. If you were to extrapolate that estimate to the entire length of US 19, then there would be around 1150 accidents at any given moment. That means at least 2300 people would be involved in a car accident on US 19 at any given moment.

And that’s just one road.

Currently, there are over 150 highways in the United States. It’s absolutely horrifying to think of just how many accidents happen every day, let alone every year. According to the NHTSA, an average of 34,000 people died each year via U.S. Highway car crashes. If we were to rank that number alongside U.S. wars, highway accidents would be the 5^th deadliest event. Keep in mind, however, that this is the statistics for one year. If we multiply the average fatalities by a number of years equal to each entry on the “wars” list (from Wikipedia), highway fatalities rise to #3 all time, ahead of the Vietnam War and World War I.

Are you starting to see my point?

It is absolutely unreasonable to allow such a deadly problem to continue. Driving should be a way to get from one place to another, not a way to get yourself killed. But how do we mitigate the effects of such a common practice?

The first step is driver education. Drivers rarely know every single rule of the road, and sometimes two drivers have different ideas of the rules of the road and get into a wreck. It is very common for me to see people not yielding to other people or swerving in and out of lanes. The ignorance of basic safety precautions by drivers is alarming and dangerous for both them and the other people who are on the road.

I remember watching a Chevrolet commercial once where the interviewer asked someone how many car accidents per year they thought should be the goal (in regards to bringing the number of car crashes down to that number). The interviewee said, “Maybe 50?” So, the interviewer brought out 50 of the interviewee’s friends and family. After seeing them, the interviewee quickly said “Zero.” That should be the end goal. When a single car accident happens, someone’s friend is lost. When a single car accident happens, someone’s family member is lost. Car crashes are not just another thing. They are serious, extreme problems and should be treated as such.

In Florida, you need to score an 80% on the driver’s test in order to pass and obtain a driver’s license. That means that you are allowed to get 10 questions wrong. That is extremely risky when you consider that this test is giving the ability to drive a motorized machine that can cause major injuries.

In regard to test scores specifically, we need to raise our minimum test scores drastically. An 80% gives a person 10 second chances on paper. In real life, you only get one chance. Maryland has the highest required test score for a driver’s test, mandating an 88% to pass. Still, I believe that this is too low. On a test with 50 questions, the maximum amount of questions you should be allowed to get wrong is 3. This follows the classic baseball principle, “three strikes and you’re out.” Additionally, drivers should need to take a renewal test every year instead of the current 8-year period. Keeping drivers fresh on the rules of the road is imperative to vehicle safety. However, to accommodate for financial needs, all driver’s tests should be free.

However, there exists another problem. Testing is great and all, but how do you remind people of the information every day? Administering tests like flu shots doesn’t inform a driver of the rules every day. Then again, safety must be balanced with convenience and compliance. What good would a method be if nobody ever used it? To that end, I would recommend that on the radio, radio hosts should occasionally talk about rules of the road. It could be in between songs or a subject of discussion on talk shows. I’ve also noticed that the Florida Department of Transportation (FLDOT) has recently created commercials advising using a seatbelt and paying attention while driving. I think that this is a spectacular idea and an effective way to reach people who do not listen to the radio in their vehicle.

Drivers need to be a part of the solution, too. When you are driving on a highway, you’ll quickly notice that everybody is driving over the speed limit. Just because everyone is doing it, however, doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do. Start driving at the speed limit, even if everyone else isn’t. Change doesn’t start until someone starts to change.