The cause was easy enough to identify: Data parsed by Kuhls and her colleagues showed that drivers were speeding more, on highways and on surface streets, and plowing through intersections with an alarming frequency. Conversely, seatbelt use was down, resulting in thousands of injuries to unrestrained drivers and passengers. After a decade of steady decline, intoxicated-driving arrests had rebounded to near historic highs.
… The relationship between car size and injury rates is still being studied, but early research on the American appetite for horizon-blotting machinery points in precisely the direction you’d expect: The bigger the vehicle, the less visibility it affords, and the more destruction it can wreak.
I’m pretty biased on this one but I’ve been pretty outspoken that we print too god damn many driver’s licenses.
For the most part, it has nothing to do with people’s general driving competency. It has to do with their anger issues. People really just don’t care about others anymore. Defensive driving is virtually nonexistent for the majority of drivers, because everyone’s mentality is entirely selfish. Most days, many people are just giving in to their rage. And it’s not just behind the wheel either. All aspects of life are being swallowed by people’s indifference and anger.
Someone I knew got their license as an adult recently, and they were terrified at the lack of an actual “test” in the driving test. They drove around the block, never got above 35mph, and encountered a couple other cars.
And once you pass that, as long as you renew it and don’t have any violations, you can drive until you can’t see the gauges or hold the steering wheel.
We should have driving tests like the Finns have.
I think the problem lies more in initial training and retesting. There is very little mandated training for a task as complex as driving and most training is done on open streets, not under controlled conditions with professional supervision. Furthermore, once you get the lisence, you got it for life just keep paying the fees. No need to retest regardless how the rules of the road change, street design changes, and car technology changes.
I agree for the most part but there is something to be said for the fact that controlled training is never really going to cover all of the details of real world situations. Put simply, a newly licensed driver is always going to suck until they get on the road experience.