AUTOMOTIVE
Do Dash Cams Lead To Better Driving? BY MICHAEL THOMAS
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veryone thinks they’re a good driver. Most surveys find that between 80-85 percent of people believe they are above average in their driving abilities. Aside from being bad math, all you need to do is spend about 30 seconds on any road in America, and you know that is simply not true. A new survey conducted by Christian Brothers Automotive asked people to name the top signs someone is a bad driver. Topping the list, not surprisingly, was speeders. Nearly two-thirds of all drivers say speeding is the thing that most annoys them on the road. Yet, over forty percent of those admitted that they like to drive fast themselves, and one in three believes that speed limits are more of a “suggestion” than an actual law. Other driving pet peeves included cutting people off, tailgating, road rage, using the horn too much, not using turn signals, driving with one hand on the wheel, and using a phone while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that one of the leading causes of accidents is dis-
tracted driving, which leads to nearly 3,000 highway fatalities every year. I should know, I was almost a victim myself. So, what can you do about protecting yourself from bad drivers? Obviously, being a better—and more defensive— driver yourself is your best bet. Don’t speed excessively, obey traffic regulations, so on and so forth. But what else can you do to protect yourself from the countless bad and distracted drivers on the road? After a near miss from an inattentive driver on I-75 through the construction zone earlier this year, I decided to buy a dash cam. I’ve seen a number of videos on YouTube that show crazy accidents and bad driving, and in so many of them I noticed that if it hadn’t been for SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
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