I called the California Highway Patrol (CHP) office to find out how many accidents they responded to last year in Lake County.
They reported 620 collisions and 14 fatal crashes. According to the CHP, in 2011 motor vehicle accidents killed 15 people in our county.
We”ve all heard the REACH and CALSTAR helicopters overhead. Some people never made it to the hospital alive. Others sustained injuries that are life-altering.
We get in to our cars or trucks and head out on the open road with a lot on our minds. We could be thinking about where we”re going or how long it will take or matters like work or family.
We may be carrying stress and once we start the engine, that stress can get behind the wheel.
Some see driving as a stress release. They find that the accelerator can act like a valve to release pressure when depressed and so they may press the pedal to the metal.
Others see driving as a place to talk to friends or catch up on business, be it by text or calling. Some like to crank up the volume on their sound system and get lost in their favorite tunes.
Most people get annoyed when following a vehicle they think is driving too slowly. They feel the need to pass, sometimes at any cost. The CHP could tell you that there are times when this has cost someone their life.
Driving the speed limit these days is an invitation for contempt from other drivers. This has made being careful and obeying the speed laws more challenging.
I”ve seen people speed up on the highway just to get around another vehicle only to get off at the next exit. It”s like some mad compulsion to be the car in front even if you”re approaching your exit or a red light or stop sign. It doesn”t make sense but it”s not about sense. It”s about power.
It”s about transferring all of that energy you had when you got into that one or two ton vehicle to the gas pedal and steering wheel and taking control and no one”s going to take that away from you.
No matter how many accidents we may read about in the paper or see on the news, no one ever thinks it could happen to them. Most of us feel invincible.
We can”t imagine how our impatience or distraction could cause us to be killed instantly or permanently disabled.
When in the moment, rolling along without a concern in the world about how we”re driving, it just doesn”t enter one”s mind that this could be our last drive or result in something so horrible we might not ever be able to forget it.
Many states have passed laws prohibiting texting while driving. Currently in California, according to the state uniform bail and penalties schedule, the fine is $160.
Is that the value of a life? Ask someone whose wife or husband, sister or brother or child was lost because someone was texting while driving. What might have been the last text sent or received and what was so important as to be worth the loss of someone”s life?
My father taught me to drive and he drilled in to those lessons, the importance of paying attention. I took driving seriously then and still do.
There was a time when reckless driving was so rare that if you saw it, you”d remark how crazy it was and worry about someone getting hurt. Now driving at dangerous speeds and with little regard for anyone else has become all too pass?.
Few of us ever think about the consequences of our actions until they arrive but in the case of driving, the consequences can be so severe that you won”t have a second chance to learn from your mistake. All it takes is once drifting over the line because you”re mind”s somewhere else or your eyes are diverted to a text or your thoughts are wandering while talking on the phone. You might not even have to take your eyes off the road to be involved in an accident. It”s not just where your eyes and hands are. It”s where your head is.
I”m writing this in hope that someone somewhere may think about what I”m saving and a life might be saved. Maybe yours. Maybe someone you know. Maybe someone”s mom or dad or grandma or best friend.
When you”re in an accident and someone is killed, there are no strangers.
Here”s a list of things you shouldn”t do while driving:
Anything other than paying attention to the road and the vehicles around you.
What”s your list?
Howard Glasser
Kelseyville
