Just because you haven't been in an accident in your career doesn't mean that you haven't put other people at risk. I've done shots in cars with actors driving and with professionals driving where things did not feel safe. All it takes is for there to be one moment where things don't go well and everybody in the car is at risk of injury or death. DP's don't always consider the safety of the crew because they want the shot, and there have been so many times on sets that I've worked on where they've been told to slow down and do it the right way. No shot is worth any member of your crews life. Driving involves lots of variables and all it takes is for one of them to go awry.

Why bother with sound on a high speed camera?

If you are going to go to college, don't study film. Study marketing and accounting. As a freelancer these are much more valuable resources. You will learn more on your 1st big set than you will in 2 years of student film production (2 years of college is taken up by general studies). If there is an equipment house in your area, make some calls, see if you can hang out there, see if you can intern there. Meet people that work on large sets willing to take on a trainee.

Higher end Canon and Sony camera's, and all arri camera's all have the ability to output a lut for live viewing while recording a log image. It's not baked in unless you've changed the record settings to those parameters.