Car safety is important for a number of reasons. As a mother, it’s important to model safe behavior for your children so they don’t get hurt. But even further than health reasons, it’s also important because there is a financial burden for being an irresponsible driver. With all these reasons combined, including the health and wellbeing of others on the road with you, driver safety is extremely important. Here we will discuss why each reason is so crucial and what you can do to ensure driver safety for yourself and your children.
Health and Wellbeing
Let’s begin with the most pragmatic of all reasons: your health and wellbeing as well as that of the drivers you share the road with. Being on the road in and of itself presents a risk. Simply driving a vehicle is likely the most dangerous thing you will do in your day. Accidents happen all the time. For example, the Missouri Department of Transportation shows that there were 377 fatalities and 1,171 serious injuries state-wide caused by an accident involving a commercial motor vehicle between 2015 and 2017. But it’s not just in Missouri. Accidents happen all over, all the time.
For this reason, it’s important that you and your family practice good driver safety. This means not driving while under the influence, not driving while distracted by your phone or friends or music that’s too loud, and not driving too fast or too slow to disrupt the normal flow of traffic. It also includes paying attention to traffic signs, adjusting your speed to weather conditions, and even making sure that your car has been to the auto shop lately and is functioning properly. All of these things are part of proper driver safety and failure to abide by these rules of the road can only result in more danger for you and those around you.
Financial Burdens
As mentioned, making sure your car is functioning properly is a big part of driver safety. If your brakes aren’t working and you didn’t know because you haven’t gone to the shop to pass inspection, you are putting yourself and everyone around you at great risk.
This also will result in a significant financial burden once you do get in an accident to fix not only the brakes but anything else that may have gotten damaged in the crash. In 2017, the total cost of service and parts sales at dealerships in the United States was greater than $114 billion. Keeping your car functioning properly and fixing it when it isn’t is all part of driver safety. If you do not, you will not only have the risk of an accident waiting for you, but also the financial burden that comes with having to fix whatever breaks in an accident.
Distracted Driving
One of the main reasons people get into accidents nowadays is because of distracted driving. For many, this means using their cell phones while operating a vehicle. It takes 0.05 seconds for someone to form an opinion about your website and even less to get in an accident because you were looking on your phone instead of paying attention to the road. Distracted driving can be more than just using your cell phone, however. It can also be having too many people in the car at one time, listening to music too loudly, and even driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. All of these things will take your attention away from proper driver safety and increase your risk of an accident. Limiting these distractions altogether will provide you with the safest experience.
As a parent, it can be difficult to control how your child may act once behind the wheel. However, leading by example through their formative years will help them to make the right choices. Additionally, teaching them the importance of responsibility and informing them about the potential for risk can all help guide your child towards doing the right things behind the wheel. Driver safety all comes down to the driver, so instilling a sense of responsibility into your child is the best way to ensure they stay safe on their own.
