When I was growing up as a kid, cars didn't have a whiff of safety equipment. No seatbelts. No headrests. No collapsible steering columns. No nothing. On long trips my dad would even let me or one of my brothers lie on the package shelf behind the back seat. And we weren't the only ones. That was a pretty common practice back then.

Even so, up through the 1960s, the United States had the best traffic safety record in the world. But as the population continued to grow and as more cars appeared on the roads, the fatality rate grew with them. And so the government began enacting safety standards.

And boy, did we pile on the regulations. Today, the U.S. has more safety laws and by far the strictest ones of any country. And yet we've dropped to 16th place in the global rankings. What's going on here? How come countries with weaker regulations are getting better results?

It's not about enforcing seat belt use at all.

In Europe, a driver's license is more that a glorified ID card; it actually means that you have mastered some important skills, and have passed an actual test, one that is hard to pass. Driving is a privilege, and a valued skill.

This mindset then makes people take driving seriously.

The most important safety measure that could come about in the US is politicians growing a pair and having the political will to enforce higher standards for driving skills.