How Far Should the Law Go to Prevent Auto Accidents in North Carolina and Elsewhere?
As someone who’s recently been hurt in a North Carolina car crash – or a friend or relative of a victim – you undoubtedly have auto safety on your mind every hour of every day.
While victims can leverage the law to seek compensation for injuries, lost time at work, loss of companionship and other damages – ideally by turning to a competent and experienced law firm, like the team at DeMayo law – your leverage is limited.
Besides, the damage has already been done.
In your time of grief or pain or struggle, you might be tempted to want to “do something” to make sure that what happened to you or your friend or family member “never happens again.” This sentiment is obviously understandable. But people who design policy need to be very mindful to treat road safety issues scientifically. They must let data and evidence — rather than emotions — dictate the most appropriate steps.
It’s also important to have a collective discussion about the rule of intervention. Is the state or the community responsible for imposing rules to encourage auto safety?
Obviously, there is a fine balance here. If we lacked auto safety laws altogether, people would be driving 120 mph per hour down suburban streets; chaos would reign. On other hand, too much bureaucracy – too many restrictions – would not only make transportation nearly impossible, but it would also likely cause accidents because of the confusion.
Truth be told, there are probably certain restrictions right now that could be eliminated or changed to benefit everyone who uses the roads. Likewise, there are probably certain restrictions or limitations that could be imposed that would do the same.
For instance, it might behoove the state to impose regular driver’s ed testing – maybe once every five years – to make sure that everyone stays refreshed regarding the rules of the road. After all, it doesn’t make much sense to test drivers once before giving them their licenses and then just sort of let them “wing it” for years, decades, or even longer.
So, maybe regular, universal “imposed driver’s ed” would be a good idea.
Likewise, it’d be interesting to see what might happen if we started treating people who drive while distracted — or while overly fatigued — similar to the way we treat people who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We know from statistics that driving while on a cell phone or driving while really sleep deprived is hugely dangerous. But we certainly don’t punish overly tired drivers nearly the way we punish DUI drivers – and perhaps we should legally consider these behaviors more similar because of the compelling statistics.
The debate will rage on, but it’s important for both for accident victims and for policymakers to consider how and why North Carolina road safety can be improved.
