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Concentrating on our driving helps keep all alive

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  • Wes Bloomquist •
  • Originally published January 5, 2009 at 2:31 p.m., updated January 5, 2009 at 2:31 p.m.

"A car is a weapon. If you have a loaded gun you have to treat it with respect. The same is true of a car..."

- Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

Sadly, we've ended the old year and begun the new with more carnage on our streets and highways.

Near the end of 2008, deaths and injuries. And only three days into 2009, two more deaths on a Refugio County highway.

The sad thing is that so many of these crashes are preventable, yet the melancholy statistics keep piling up, year after year.

We must all learn from these terrible tragedies, and help each other to pass from Point A to Point B safely.

We've got to slow down. We've got to put on the brake for that light turning red instead of gunning it through the intersection. We've got to check and double check both ways before proceeding past a stop sign, slow down when it rains and the streets and highways get slippery. We've got to give the road ahead our full attention when we're driving, not to the cell phone we're dialing, or the CD we're choosing to play, or any other activity except concentrating on our driving.

And, above all, if we're obeying all the rules then we've got to look out for the other guy, because he may not be paying attention.

All that sounds so simple that I'm sure many folks will reply, "So? What's new about that?"

Actually, there is nothing new about it. But the plain truth is, a lot of us have forgotten those basic rules. Maybe we learned at a parent's side, or in driver education courses, but we lost it somewhere along the roadside. I know I've caught myself in potentially deadly lapses in judgment.

So it's not just my humble opinion. With every somber statistic that is tacked on to the earlier ones, the message should become clearer and more urgent.

When I say statistic, however, I'm not saying that each death or horrible injury is just a number.

Oh no, these are very real people whose lives are being changed forever or ended suddenly.

That person being airlifted by helicopter to the hospital, or rushed there in a screaming ambulance, or being covered with a blanket at the scene, is somebody's parent, or spouse, or beloved brother or sister.

Want a new year's resolution to reach for? How about we all look out for each other on the road?

And that will ensure a lot more happy new years out there.

Jim Bishop is a senior editor for the Advocate. Leave him a message at 361-574-1210 or jbishop@vicad.com or comment on this column at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com



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