By: Kylie Huber, Biology & Society ‘25
When behind the wheel, many of us find a brief escape. Tinted windows endow a sense of anonymity in a place where we can immerse ourselves in air conditioning and the blare of our favorite songs. Yet, despite the comfort and luxury, the modern car can still facilitate deadly driving. And more deadly than ever before. Though we can feel safe in the veneer of anonymity that the car gives, the unprecedented death tolls seen on American roads unveil a great deal about our behavior and our coping mechanisms with the increasingly stressful events of our world.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) revealed that in 2023, more than half of American drivers took part in dangerous behavior, including speeding, distracted driving, aggressive driving, and combinations of each [1]. Looking back at data from 2020 to 2021, when COVID held the country in lockdown, there was a 16 percent increase in car crashes, resulting in nearly 6 million crashes over the course of one year and nearly 43,000 deaths [2]. These figures easily categorize reckless driving as a severe public health crisis. Yet, we are so used to it that it is invisible. While the car can often offer a sense of invincibility in the anonymity it offers, the uptick in car-related deaths indicates its status as a public health threat as severe as gun violence [2].
For United States teenagers, motor accidents are the leading cause of death [3]. Young people are especially prone to multitasking behind the wheel, aggressive behavior, and speeding [2]. Additionally, when analyzing the behavior of young drivers who engaged in driving on drugs, a study found that these drivers were less likely to have “relatedness” to others that would support them not driving after taking drugs [4]. This statistic indicates that the fostering of positive, healthy relationships, particularly by facilitating policies that would prevent adverse childhood experiences, is more important now than ever before.
Additionally, the same study found that drug-using drivers recognized that they have a choice not to drive while high, and were more likely to plan for alternative transportation methods compared to non-drug using counterparts [4]. This data demonstrates that the strengthening of widespread public transportation can play a critical role in health outcomes. It also reveals that relationships with peers and family members that are positive rather than stress-inducing are crucial to encouraging the pursuit of alternative, safe transportation methods.
Beyond the behaviors of young people, an entire nation has become unprecedentedly burdened while driving. Even worse, we are not properly paying attention to its severity, and it may be too late when we give it the awareness it deserves. This perspective is reflected in much of Americans’ perceptions of their mental and physical health. In a study from the American Psychological Association, 81 percent of respondents stated that they believe their physical health has improved, but 66 percent of those same participants said their healthcare provider diagnosed them with a stress-related chronic illness [5]. Similar self-evaluation deviations are shown when it comes to mental health as well. 81 percent of participants said their mental health has improved, but 37 percent of them have received a diagnosis for a mental health condition.
Furthermore, in the same way that we almost expect to encounter reckless driving each time we get on the road, approximately three in five Americans are expected by the people in their lives to merely ‘get over’ their stress [5]. The data supports the phenomenon that we, as a country, are undergoing collective trauma, and it is seen in our driving. When events that make us feel powerless seem never-ending, our stress levels manifest while driving: a time when we think nobody’s looking.
In a near perfect world, asking a whole country to take self-accountability and regulate their stress responses may be feasible, but we also know that surroundings greatly influence a person’s behavior [6]. Transportation data reveals how this phenomenon can be considered for our safety. For example, technologies like cameras at red lights and speed cameras have proven effective in France. When widespread speeding cameras were implemented there, the first decade of the program saw a significant decline in car-related injuries and fatalities, as well as speeding [2].
Arguments against these technologies include perspectives on technology’s infringement on individual civil liberties. Data privacy and security are rapidly becoming issues at the forefront of policy, and certainly should not be ignored. Still, when a person is identified in a split-second snapshot to receive speeding punishments that are often quite minor, it begs the question of what cost we’d be undertaking to prioritize the privacy of a few drivers. We still need to protect citizens’ personal liberties to drive on safe roads and highways. In the long run, road enforcement policies would work to dissipate our stress and social policies can work to improve public transport and the safety of interpersonal relationships from a young age, but we can all be reminded that we have lives in our hands each time we’re on the road. Day by day, driving can eventually be an opportunity for all of us to slow down when so much feels out of our control, rather than unintentionally making it a harmful vessel of our frustrations.
References
Gross, A. (2023, November 29). Risky Business – More than Half of All Drivers Engage in Dangerous Behavior. AAA Newsroom. https://newsroom.aaa.com/2023/11/risky-business-more-than-half-of-all-drivers-engage-in-dangerous-behavior/
Shaer, M. (2024, January 10). Why Are American Drivers So Deadly? The New York Times Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/magazine/dangerous-driving.html
Teen Driver and passenger safety. (n.d). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/teen_drivers/index.html
Mills, L., Watson-Brown, N., Freeman, J. E., Truelove, V., & Davey, J. D. (2021). An exploratory investigation into the self-regulatory processes influencing drug driving: Are young drivers more externally regulated? Transportation Research. Part F, Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 80, 237–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2021.04.011
Stress in America 2023. (2023). The American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2023/collective-trauma-recovery
Abou-Zeid, M., Kaysi, I., & Al-Naghi, H. (2011). Measuring Aggressive Driving Behavior Using a Driving Simulator: An Exploratory Study. American University of Beirut, 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation. https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conferences/2011/RSS/1/Abou-Zeid,M.pdf
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