Kansas City, MO Lawyer Helping Advanced Drivers Stay Safe

As traffic safety professionals, one of our primary goals is to influence drivers to adopt safe driving habits and behaviors. While there are many different methods you can employ to reach that end, we hope you will consider implementing Drive By Example into your State driver safety program.

New Universe of Roadway Risk

Due to a growing number of distracted, impatient, and aggressive drivers, American motorists face a new universe of risk on the road. Because an ever-increasing number of drivers are using cell phones and driving faster, the risk of a violent collision has significantly increased.

Traditionally, we have fought against dangerous drivers by enacting laws and using law enforcement patrols to police our roads. This method works reasonably well as long as the laws provide a strong deterrent against the conduct and you have enough manpower to properly enforce the law.

Unfortunately, when it comes reducing the number of distracted, impatient, and aggressive drivers, we can no longer rely upon laws and law enforcement to reduce the rising number of dangerous drivers. This is particularly true in a day and age when police are stretched thin and do not have the budgets and resources to put into traffic patrols.

Changing Driver Behaviors

Given the above, our best option to changing driver behaviors in the current environment is a driver safety campaign that works to:

(1) alert drivers to the new universe of roadway risk; and,

(2) influence those drivers to respond to the threat of harm by adopting the safe driving habits and behaviors.

This type of strategy to change driver behavior has worked in the past in the context of seat belt use. When seat belts were first introduced in the 1970s, they were very unpopular. However, in the latter half in the 1980s, seat belt use jumped dramatically due in large part to a seat belt safety campaign that used crash dummies to depict what can happen to a driver who is not wearing a seat belt at the time of a collision.

The lesson is that drivers took a defensive action against a perceived  risk of bodily harm. We can employ the same defensive driving strategy to fight against the modern day dangerous driver.   

Drive By Example Driving Safety Platform

Built on a clear, concise, and memorable driving safety message, Drive By Example campaigns provide states a defensive driving campaign that will work to not only alert drivers to the new universe of roadway risk posed by a growing number of dangerous drivers, but also influence those drivers to adopt the habits and behaviors that protect themselves, their passengers, and others on the road.

Instead of trying to influence a driver to put down his or her phone, drive slower, or less aggressive, Drive By Example encourages drivers to protect themselves against other drivers. Drive By Example urges drivers to drive:

  • Alert, so that they are prepared to avoid dangerous drivers.
  • Buckled, so that they are less likely to be seriously injured or killed in a crash.
  • Cautious, so they are less likely to put themselves in harms way.

A+B+C=Defensive Driving

While there are other important elements of a comprehensive driver safety program, a high visibility defensive driving campaign, like Drive By Example, can help reverse the trend toward dangerous driving and set the foundation for an improved driving culture.

For more information on implementing Drive By Example into your driver safety toolbox, browse the pages listed to the right. You may also contact our offices if you have more questions. Horn Law is here to help!