This is not a problem confined to Macon County, but this is where we live. It is the roads on which we drive that we see the crosses marking fatalities, and where we support the survivors and enable the perpetrators.
The newspaper accounts are remarkably similar; a precise description of the car--make, model, year--is given, one or the other of the cars or trucks involved is then described as having lost control, causing an unavoidable crash.
I submit that the issue of "how was the driver's 'control lost'" bears attention.
A number of accidents are caused by drunk drivers. Drunks have few advocates; drunk drivers should have none.
Normal people have occasional lapses of attention; they shouldn't but they do, and I think we can all remember our own close calls and near misses with tragedy.
When these occur we depend on our fellow drivers to keep an eye out for us, and they usually do. If as a driver we have too many of these lapses, it is probably time to hang it up (the car keys!).
We are nevertheless responsible. I'm much more concerned with speed. There are posted speed limits, these are a matter of state and local law and they are supposed to reflect the relative safety of the road on which they are posted.
These speed limits are a flat out indicator of how fast we are allowed to drive and be within the law.
There is, however, another consideration: one should drive in such a way that we can respond to traffic conditions, road conditions and the unexpected behavior of other drivers.
The driver should have an accurate sense of the physical capabilities of his vehicle--are the lights on; do the brakes and brake lights and turn signals work; and am I going "too fast?"There is also the issue of state of mind. An angry, impatient, tailgating or speeding driver is a problem diver, not the old lady who has the temerity to be in front of him.
The driver who hasn't matured sufficiently to appreciate how dangerous he or she can be under the distractions of modern life is a problem for everyone else.
Everyone knows that cars will go much faster than the highest speed limits. That does not make them safe at high speeds.
Perhaps, even surely, some people don't know any better, or don't care--and I submit that this too is a problem.
On the television show Law and Order they call that "callous indifference."
Our economy is very dependent on large trucks, and as a result we have a lot of them passing through. These trucks are like the "castles" in a chess game--they are powerful and they plow ahead in straight lines. They are very heavy, and they don't stop easily or quickly.
When these trucks are off the interstates and freeways they need to slow down.
Our Hwy. 52 is not a freeway, although it is a very nice road.
So, why should we slow down? The last ticket I got cost $160. That's a lot of money. Gas is very expensive, and speed is wasteful of gas; going more slowly would save money, and still get you to your destination alive.
Studies of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder relates directly to whether a solider has killed someone.
Save yourself some guilt. If you are an impatient, angry tailgating speeding driver subject to road rage, there's probably some therapy available.
If you are a truck driver, please slow down on our country roads--you're scary!
If you are a teenager, you are much more likely to grow up if you slow down.
Occasionally word gets back to me that my views are annoyingly liberal, and therefore suspect. I don't have a problem with that, but this essay is decidedly not "liberal"--it's about a local issue that costs lives, property and money.
This is about personal responsibility, and connecting the dots...
These are good, conservative issues: accidents are about negligence.
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