All across the United States there are drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and passengers. And all over the world these people are in danger on the road. Although car manufacturers have tried to make cars safer when accidents happen and police officers have tried to make fewer accidents happen by enforcing certain laws, there is still a lot of danger in driving – just watch the evening news! In addition to the more than one million people who are killed in car accidents each year, another thirty-eight million people are injured in car accidents each year, and of those thirty-eight million injuries, five million of them are very serious and usually critical injuries.

My sister was hit by a minivan once and also by an SUV while riding her bike. She not only destroyed her bike, but she also broke her foot the first time and the second time she injured her leg and her shoulder was badly scraped on the pavement. -Both times she paid for her own repairs, because she is too timid a person to demand that the at-fault driver take responsibility for helping her after injuring her and her only means of transportation. In the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a New Car Assessment Program (US-NCAP). However, this program uses very outdated methods for crash testing, as well as the fact that it only features cars that were built after the year 1994. Testing is also done for the insurance industry, called the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). But similarly, these tests and reviews only have data available for some late-model vehicles.

There is a great deal of ignorance in many of the fifty states when it comes to pedestrian safety. I once had an SUV about the size of a hummer miss me by a few inches when crossing the street. The old man in the virtual tank was waiting to turn left. I started walking, because I had a walk signal (and that means pedestrians can cross the street, and it also means that cars waiting to turn must wait for pedestrians to cross. The implication here is that one should LOOK before turning their very popular huge new vehicle (which promotes both driver and passenger safety, and can also crush any compact car on the road).

In this situation, it wasn’t like the old man didn’t see me at first and then saw me at the last second (woops). He didn’t see me at all. He passed me completely alien. Literally, if he had taken one more step, he would have knocked me to the ground and rolled over me with all four of his huge tires.

Do you see how this can be important, that is, if you don’t want to murder someone or be killed yourself? Heck, you might even be or encourage others to be a little more careful just to avoid a simple injury. That is, unless you want to insult or get hurt. I guess everyone has personal preferences (and may need some help). But seriously, seriously, everyone should try to be more careful on the road. And my recommendation for pedestrians or cyclists. . . I guess they just need to pretend that all the cars are out to kill them and all the drivers are blind, because obviously, at least in this state, following the rules of the road just isn’t enough.