A Death of The Family

One of the saddest stories of the Summer was the death of an entire family on the road that was caused, it is thought by a distraction in the family car. That led to a head-on crash with an on-coming van.

During holiday times we all set out to enjoy ourselves while on a journey of discovery. However, when we load up the car with the entire family we increase the risk to the maximum upon everyone in the family that something horrible could happen.

I don't know whether the car ran into the van, or vice-versa. I have no real idea of what was the cause of these two vehicles meeting head-on, so my comments can only be made in a general sense.

Firstly, a note that applies to all drivers: your car is not your living room, which of course you know; therefore when driving a different form of conduct is required.

Things can change so quickly when in motion that we really do need to keep our eyes glued to the lane in front of us, as well as being aware of what is happening around us.

Common sense tells us that when we get behind the wheel our bodily systems should be free from anything that will impair our judgement. When we have our family in the car this becomes absolute.

Children find having to sit still while the car is moving terribly boring. The parent who is a passenger can deal with them. The driver has to remain fixed in his or her concentration. As an example;  a large 4X4 came up behind me with a little girl who was not strapped in. The girl was distracting her mother as she drove, who suddenly realised that I had stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let the pedestrian cross.

The mother slammed on her brakes, and (fortunately) the little girl was thrown into the fascia of the car. Fortunately, because she could have been thrown out the car through the windshield.

In a column at the start of the Summer I pointed out that sleepiness while driving is probably responsible for more deaths on the road than we know. I had an experience that further underscores this thought: on one of the hotter days I had been running a couple of errands, and after lunch I was on my way home. The combination of the hot wind, (I don't have air-conditioning) and my lunch was very calming. I began to feel the effects, but I was close to home so I continued. Wrong decision!

At that stretch there was no other traffic on the road, when I closed my eyes without realising and the car touched the white line rumble strip along the side of the road. That promptly woke me up. (That is what it is there for.)

What I should have done when I felt the first effects coming on was to have immediately turned off the road and found somewhere where I could have slept it off. It really is that important!

Congratulations to those of us who survived the Summer driving season, especially if we have no injuries. I've learned from my own experience. I can only hope it might make an impression on you too.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael