HOPE SMITH
editor-in-chief
hope.smith393@my.tccd.edu
“Texas has bad drivers.”
This phrase has been uttered by non-Texan and Texan drivers often. Texans nod to each other in unison thinking of the Dallas traffic, distracted drivers and speed demons.
I say it to myself watching a car make the decision to take up both lanes in front of me.
This, however, is not a baseless claim. According to Forbes, Texas has the worst drivers, and Louisiana follows after.
Texas also has the third highest number of drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes, as well as the ninth highest number of fatal car crashes due to distracted driving.
Why is this? There is almost – without a doubt, actually – no reason why I should be going the speed limit while a Ford F-150 is so close to me it could smell my thoughts in the far-right lane.
To pair with these facts, Texas is also the state with the highest speed limit of 85 mph in certain rural interstates.
For new Texan drivers, this can prove to be a worrisome challenge. I remember my first time behind the wheel was in my mom’s car, and I was terrified to simply scratch it.
I could try all I wanted to follow all the road laws to a T, remember my turn signal and watch for other drivers, but I was completely at the mercy of these other drivers if they chose to pick up their phone to send a text.
Taking the highway for some people is a regular day to and from work expecting to see an accident on the side.
But that’s the Texas highways. And in some ways, it’s a little morbid. I feel it’s almost expected now that an accident is bound to happen on the highway, it’s just a matter of time.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, a person was killed every 1hr and 57 minutes based on reported crashes in 2022. One person was injured every two minutes and nine seconds, and one reportable crash occurs every 57 seconds.
If we want change, it helps to discourage jokes on drunk driving. Recently, there has been an uptick of “fetch me my car keys!” and other jokes while people allude to being under the influence on TikTok and other social media platforms. It’s all jokes, of course, but the internet is free to anyone, and one person’s joke can easily be another’s dare.
Dark humor is humor until someone actually gets hurt. It’s not funny after that. In situations like those, it’s important to distinguish from the get-go, that if the group is going to get involved with drinking that car keys are set aside and out of reach.
Targeting an issue like this would be a monster of a task but addressing it for what it is would be a good first step. Defensive driving courses in Texas offer a chance to have fully comprehensive education on being a safe driver, and I highly recommend people are fully aware of how much certain road law offenses cost as an incentive to be smart.
