We call this an accident. It's really simply a crash that might have been avoided.My recent motorcycle crash was caused by a car moving against the lawful flow of traffic. That sent me in search of other incidents of this nature, and what might have been some of the consequences. In my case I have a broken leg and a cast that I will have to live with for six weeks, not to mention the discomfit.
No sooner had I started my search did I come across an incident that happened recently in the United States. A woman attended a family and friends picnic in the country, at which she drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. At the end of the day she borrowed a car and piled into it five children, her own and a friends, the oldest of which was nine, and set off to drive them home. However, she promptly drove into the wrong lane and didn’t appear to notice.
For two miles she drove at speed, and through divine intervention she missed all the on-coming vehicles until luck ran out and she slammed head-on into an oncoming car carrying three adults. Those three people were killed outright, and her car exploded into a ball of fire, killing all but her own son, who was badly burned.
This is a statistic that just simply didn’t have to happen. It was caused recklessly and stupidly and is just plain indefensible.
Question: Does anybody out there still think that it’s a good idea to drive with alcohol in your system, and is it a good idea to take illicit drugs of any kind?
This makes my broken leg seem not so important after all.
There was a time when I was most frightened on the road. It was the day that I met a driver on the highway coming towards me in the wrong direction. We were on the A 7 travelling North and we had just passed the junction with the road to Madrid. All three lanes were occupied and traffic was moving fluidly, when off in the distance we could hear the blowing of horns and something strange was taking place. A vehicle with its lights on and occupying the left lane, sometimes called the fast lane was coming our way.
There was a short break between us and the traffic ahead and we could see that the driver was making a left hand signal. We all went to our hazard lights at the same time and that great body of traffic reduced speed as though we had rehearsed together. The driver made a flawless u-turn then picked up speed ahead of us and took the first exit.
Is it possible to accidentally enter a highway and drive against traffic if there is nothing to impair your judgement? I think this is so because in most cases there is only a painted line on the road to divide the exit ramp from the on ramp. If something distracts your attention just for a moment it would be possible to cross over that line. However, it has to become apparent very quickly that you are doing something very wrong.
Unless, of course you are impaired by drink or drugs or tiredness. All of these things are fatal and should be avoided at all costs. You may not be so concerned for my benefit, but for self-preservation alone I expect you to care, because by now we all know how deadly these things are.
I don’t want to leave this without bringing into the picture the whole culture of drugs, and that includes alcohol when talking about having a good time. I no longer will go to someone’s home in the United States, except my family because I was always confronted by that tray with a choice of poison. “Do a line? Smoke a joint? Drop some pills? What’s your pleasure? “ Trying to refuse would lead to all manner of bad reactions. “You must be a narc!” “Do you think you’re better than we are?” I never got a return invitation and had no intention of ever going back. Meanwhile, the United States are giving Mexico a hard time to do more to stop drugs coming over their border, when in fact it is the buyers in America who are responsible for the problem.
The first time that a drug importer brings in a shipment and no-one buys it, he will change into a different business.
Finally, others can make such fatal mistakes such as British drivers coming to the European Continent, or vice-versa. Usually the problem arises when entering a major road from a minor road. If there is no traffic to remind us which side to use it is all too easy to make a mistake.
Take care out there. No one says that you have to die on the road!
Copyright © 2009 Eugene Carmichael
