In a time of mindfulness, mindful driving is seldom mentioned

As Aussie authorities honourably yet tepidly pursue ‘Towards Zero’ road fatality programs, the focus is on the same old five culprits: speeding, drug and alcohol use, not wearing a seatbelt, fatigue, and distraction.

I’d like to propose a sixth: People not giving the remotest damn about driving.

In Australia, this is endemic. It’s baked into Australian driving culture like that bit of lasagne crust on the casserole dish that refuses to budge. In terms of driving being a skill, the average Aussie thinks of it in a binary way: once you merely know how to do it, you’re Max Verstappen.

Amusingly, the NSW Government’s strategy of reaching zero road fatalities is the ‘Safe System Approach’ focusing on safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles and safer people. 'Safer people' is glazed over with no thought given to making them better drivers who think for themselves when behind the wheel.

In Australia, mindless driving is endemic. It’s baked into Australian driving culture like that bit of lasagne crust on the casserole dish that refuses to budge

4

If the authorities really wanted to lower the road toll – which hasn’t gone down since 2011 – they’d do well to encourage people to respect the craft again.

When you get behind the wheel, it’s not an opportunity to let your mind wander wherever it wants to go – the last place being, the task of operating what is effectively a two-tonne projectile.

New cars, to be fair, aren’t helping. They could be making us even worse drivers (and we were starting from a low base). Technologies such as lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking are great on balance, but they mean you don’t have to think as you dawdle down the freeway or reverse out of your driveway. And few people do.

Lowering the speed limit – as is common in Victoria, where I live – seems to have the effect of making people not think behind the wheel. They’re so low, and modern cars so capable, you just do whatever the sign says and try not to nod off.

Back in the day, the speed limit was a maximum and it was up to you to judge and discern, in an engaged way, whether it was safe. Not any more.

4

What’s the answer, then? Better training, obviously.

But, by the time that’s reformed and a new licensing system implemented, we’ll all be heads in jars hanging out with our AI mates in the metaverse.

The kale-nibblers of the world celebrate mindful everything – mindful eating, mindful walking, mindful window-licking… but they might actually be on to something. What about mindful driving?

An advertising campaign would help: ‘Drive mindfully, not mindlessly’. When you get behind the wheel, it’s a chance to immerse yourself back in reality – away from whatever screen you’ve just spent hours glibly staring at. Relax your eyes, look out the windows.

4

An advertising campaign would help: ‘Drive mindfully, not mindlessly’

Pay attention to the feelings of the controls; scan the road ahead for the next thing ready to jump out. Here’s your chance to be in the moment and calm the mind – remember that feeling when you couldn’t be contactable on a plane, before they all got wi-fi? That could be driving.

Australia could switch from a culture of not caring about being in charge of a car, to taking great pride in it. And that could be as simple as being reminded it’s the most dangerous, complex task most of us do everyday. Don’t forget to use your brain, not just your hands and feet.

That would at least bridge us to autonomous cars. You might shiver at the thought of getting into a vehicle without a steering wheel and trusting a computer to shuttle us around at 100km/h, but in future people will think putting humans in charge of these same vehicles was insanity.

Drive 10 minutes around an Australian urban centre and you’d probably agree.