The following is a guest post from our friends at The Law Offices of Brian Sloan. If you’re ever in need of legal assistance in Arizona, reach out to Brian and his team at ArizDUI.com
Data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveals that more than 40,000 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes last year.
It’s easy to blame alcohol-impaired driving for a good percentage of these road fatalities, and we would be right. Roughly 25 percent of traffic fatalities can be attributed to alcohol in one way or another. This figure accounts for a huge chunk of all traffic-related deaths in the United States for that year.
But what about the other 30,000 traffic fatalities? Accidents happen all the time, but we can say for certain that many of those accidents happened because some important road safety rules were not followed.
Rules of The Road
For some reason, road safety rules seem to be so hard to follow. Not driving while intoxicated is one road safety rule that is already very basic, but as the number of drunk driving fatalities for 2016 indicates, that rule is being thrown out the window on a daily basis.
For many other drivers who follow road safety rules to the letter, it must be very mind-boggling for them to see how other reckless drivers seem to have no problem violating a traffic rule as basic as not running a red light, which is a pretty common occurrence.
Running a red light is only the tip of the iceberg as far as road safety rule violations are concerned. Many drivers don’t bother to use their turn signals. Completely ignoring road signs is also a common occurrence. Then there’s tailgating, which has already caused far too many accidents (and road rage incidents) than is acceptable.
Whether we like it or not, so many people just ignore road safety rules. To stem the seemingly unstoppable rise in the number of irresponsible drivers, perhaps it’s time for authorities to step up their campaigns to promote road safety, and we’re not just talking about information drives about basic road safety rules, which most people are already aware of, but are just ignoring anyway.
Perhaps making the acquisition of drivers’ licenses a bit more difficult would work. As things stand today, it’s relatively easy to get a drivers’ license. Maybe if the rules for getting one are more stringent, driver’s licenses will end up in the hands of people who are responsible enough to follow the most basic and important road safety rules.
Stiffer penalties for traffic violations would also be a good idea. Few drivers would relish the idea of breaking traffic rules if fines that hurt their pocket come with them.
