The Beloved Killer

There is something sinister that's taken root in the United States over the last century, and we're not alone- it's infected every industrialized nation in the world, even the third world ones. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control, it kills more than 41,000 Americans every year- 43,000 in 2005- which means it killed well more than 3x more Americans than homicide by firearm, and more than double the number of people killed by total gun deaths in the US (that is, counting suicides and unintentional as well as homicide), and over 10x the number of people killed in the september 11th terrorist attacks. This didn't just happen one year, or for a few years and then we fixed it, it's happening, every year. People die year-round, every day, around the clock from this killer that hides in plain sight. Even more shocking is that people, all the time, accept, and even want, this danger around them as part of life. Most of the time, we don't even think about protecting ourselves from it- and yet, it's easily the most deadly or unsafe presence in almost everyone's day-to-day life.

"Where is this killer?" you may be asking. Well, it's right outside your door. Don't believe me? Quickly now, run to your windows and look out at your driveway, look out on the street to see if you can see it moving past, or look in your garage to see if it's invaded your home. If it's got wheels and an engine, you're looking at our killer- motor vehicles. If you haven't thought about it before, maybe you should consider just how little respect people have for the use of something as life-endangering as a motor vehicle (especially when combined with the heart-stopping excitement of AM radio and additional cupholders). Take, for example, a regular road in a regular urban area: a 35 mph speed limit in both directions seems to be the normal thing. Seems safe, right? Well, when you consider that a head-on impact with another car actually obeying the speed limit means that you're really running into them at 70 mph- that's interstate speeds. Imagine running into a car parked on the shoulder of the interstate at that speed. Not pretty, is it? Urban roads aren't that wide, and it's not too difficult for a distracted driver to end up unintentionally blundering into just such a wreck. Visualize, with the same concept in mind, a head-on impact on a 45 mph zone- a total 90 mph impact assuming you're both, by some miracle, obeying the speed limit. Now imagine a head-on wreck on the interstate. Albeit much rarer, it's that much worse- being an impact at the equivalent of 140 mph.

The moral of this story is pay attention. Driving is dangerous business, no matter how safe you think or feel it is, and if you're not paying attention, you can't react in time to save someone else or yourself. Whatever it is- your cell phone, your dog, your baby, a stray soda bottle, a cigarette (I've watched, many a time, in mixed horror and frustration as a smoker has taken both hands off the steering wheel and took their eyes completely off the highway until they successfully lit their cigarette), IT CAN WAIT. Enforce a little common sense, wait until you reach a red light, until you can pull into a gas station, at a stop sign, and if it simply can't wait, then pull into a driveway or onto the shoulder of the road. The fact that you're probably saving yourself and someone else a traumatic event, at least a 15,000 dollar hospital bill, an insurance rate hike, and life should make it all well worth heeding this advice. To provide you with a good rule to go by, though, is something that I quickly learned when I first took up motorcycling: Assume that all other drivers are out to run you over. It's saved my life at least twice, so I'm sure it will help you.

Now, something that, being a rider myself, I feel obligated to stress to anyone who drives, be it from the front or the back seat, is to watch out for motorcycles. You've probably heard it a thousand times, but traffic studies back up the facts: most drivers simply don't see or even look for motorcycles. Now, the point isn't to call regular drivers stupid incompetents that aren't fit to be operating a hot wheels toy, let alone a car- despite what we all mutter to ourselves on our less than best days- but to remind them that, honestly, that's just the case. Most of the time, you only see other cars, trucks, big trucks, and bigger trucks because that's usually what you're looking for. You're not going to notice something that's maybe 1/4 of the size of a normal vehicle. Studies have also shown that the majority of motorcycle impacts occurred from the cyclist's front-left side and front. What this means is that whenever you're preparing to merge with traffic, move to the right lane, cross traffic, or make a right or left turn, it wouldn't hurt to slow down and take an extra half second to be sure that the way is truly clear. That half second may save someone's life and save you a whole lot of grief.

Now, let's talk traffic laws, saving the legal talk for the lawyers. Most of us consider traffic laws and installments to be a nuisance, right? What's the point of a stop sign if nobody's there, right? Or the point in obeying the speed limit or traffic lights if it's the middle of the night and the roads are abandoned? Why even wear a seatbelt? Most people simply view it as a way for police departments to rake in the cash, but I'd like to make a few points to the contrary. Traffic lights and stop signs all exist because people are selfish, and if they can help it, they're not going to yield to anyone unless they're plainly bigger and badder than they are. You'd end up waiting an hour at a busy intersection as opposed to a few minutes were it not for traffic lights. You'd probably have front-end and side collisions on a regular basis at intersections were it not for stop signs. Just imagine how many people would be more than happy to blast through an urban intersection at top speed without much more than a glance for other traffic or pedestrians. Even at night time or on a deserted highway, you should still obey these installations, as well as the speed limit, because you're not the only person in a hurry, and simply assuming the other guy, or even that you will be able to react in the sliver of time you've limited yourself to by ignoring them is just plainly absurd, and 99 times out of 100, you'll be coming to consciousness with me and a dozen of my buddies huddled around you inside the back of an ambulance. Speed limits exist because they are the safe speed for that road- considering the twists, turns, visibility, wildlife, width, and a number of other factors, that's about the optimum speed for both efficient travel and giving yourself plenty of room to react to any hazards. Your seatbelt is there because it-will-save-your-life. Next time an officer pulls you over to issue a ticket or warning for a vehicle malfunction, remember that he might just be saving your life with that slap on your wrist. Next time an officer issues you a warning or ticket for a driver malfunction, remember that he's enforcing good safety practice to protect both you and those around you.

If you regularly tailgate people- that is, you drive very close to the rear of the car in front of you- I'm shaming in your general direction. Be ashamed. Be very, very ashamed. Tailgating is a dangerous practice for the tailgater and the tailgatee because of a lessened amount of response time for the tailgater, and it leaves the tailgater legally responsible for any resultant accident damages in most places. A good rule of thumb is to pick a landmark- such as a mile marker- that the car in front of you is about to pass up. As soon as the rear end of your lead car passes that landmark, start counting in mississippis. Ideally, you should be able to count to two mississippi before you reach the landmark. If you can't utter the full "one mississippi, two mississipi" before you reach it, you're too close to the vehicle in front of you. For semi trucks, the rule changes to "four mississippi" because they're actually able to stop faster than your regular vehicle can to a shocking extent, as well as because once you get so close, the trucker will be completely incapable of seeing you behind him. Believe me, no matter who was doing what right or wrong, thinking that you'll win in a collision against a semi is like thinking that your head will win in a collision against a ton of bricks- give yourself and the trucker enough room to react.

If you're not fit to drive, don't drive. Get a friend to drive you, get a family member to drive you, get a taxi to drive you, take a nap in your car, or just wait it out over a cup of coffee. By driving when you're unfit to, you put both yourself and others in immediate danger. I don't care what it is- haven't slept in 72 hours, just got a dose of demorol from the ER, or if you're drunk enough to get others drunk by smelling your breath, it's all simple stupidity and outright indifference for the well being of yourself and those around you to be driving if you're not fit to, no matter the circumstances, no matter the excuses. What's more is that if you're not fit to be driving and you get found out, you could be on the business end of serious legal charges- though not nearly as serious or ugly as running from the police to avoid being charged. The worst part, though, is that the myth that impaired drivers often survive the accidents they create, even when their victims don't, leaving them with a crippling, unforgettable guilt- isn't a myth.

Now, it's time for some shorts:
- If you try to beat the train, the train will beat you. Every time. Seriously, there's not much to it: if your vehicle stalls out on the tracks, get out of it and call 911. If you're late, you'll be really late when what's left of you is getting packed into a closed coffin. Trains are about as deadly as it gets, treat them as one would treat a dozen rattlesnakes or a bucket of battery acid.

- If you're in a hurry, it is still absolutely no excuse to drive like an idiot and endanger not only your life, but those of your passengers and fellow drivers. If your relative is hospitalized, they're not going to be feeling any better if you get yourself hospitalized too. If you think you're late now, you're going to be really late when EMS sends you on the detour of a lifetime.

- If you see an emergency vehicle on the side of the road, tending to an accident or preforming a traffic stop, PLEASE try to give them an additional lane of clearance and, if you think you can do it without causing problems, slow down a bit or at least let off the gas pedal. Also, do your best to avoid rubbernecking. I understand that for those of you who don't regularly deal with it, and even for some of us who do, it's interesting, but rubbernecking a scene is a dangerous, not only because you can end up inadvertently drifting right into the middle of the scene and injuring the responders, but because you're not paying attention, and you could end up slamming right into the drivers in front of or to the side of you and take a ride in an ambulance yourself. Be patient, and be safe. Police, fire, and EMS, we're here for when you need us. If you see us and don't need us, respect the fact that someone else does, and you'd want that person to respect your need if you were in their shoes.

- On a related note, if an emergency vehicle (police, fire, ambulance) comes up behind you with lights and sirens going, the appropriate course of action is to -safely- pull to the right, pull onto the shoulder, or partially off the road. Do not slam on the brakes, please. I've nearly been the subject of a dozen accidents because drivers panicked and slammed on their brakes when they saw our ambulance, lit up like a Christmas tree and wailing like a banshee in their rear-view mirror.

- Next to pay attention, the number one rule of the road is to stay calm. If you're about to lose control, stay calm. Panicking can and will kill you, because you will lose your mind, therefore you will lose control. Even if a wreck seems inevitable, stay calm and stay in control. You can do a lot in those last seconds to soften the blow and maybe even avoid the wreck altogether. One more aside- try not to lock up if you expect a wreck. If you stay limp and loose, your body will be better able to survive and roll with any forces put on it by the crash than if you're tensed up. That's why impaired drivers will infamously survive the crashes they create while their victims won't- their reaction time is too poor to tense up before the wreck occurs.

- Follow the advice and instructions of your vehicle's manuals. Putting a baby in the front seat, facing forward, is absolutely dangerous. If you get in an accident and that airbag goes off, it will seriously injure and possibly kill that child. If the warnings say not to let a child younger than 12 ride in the front seat, understand the reason for it is because that child may be exaclty in all the wrong places for the car's airbag and end up getting hurt worse than if they didn't have the airbag there. Of course, respecting the airbag isn't just for children. We're basically talking about a huge balloon of air that's supposed to erupt out of your steering wheel or dashboard in a matter of a split second in order to counteract and soften the forces involved in a car crash, and that means that, ironically enough, that bag puts out a lot of force when it's activated. If you're driving, the best way to hold the steering wheel is at the ten and two-o-clock positions with both hands on the wheel- not only because it gives you better, more deliberate control of the vehicle but it also keeps your hands and body much safer from the airbag, because when they're designed, that's where they consider the driver's hands to be. The safest way to place a baby in a car is in the center of the back seat, as close to the midline of the car as possible, and, of course, secured in a car seat. Children up to as old as five can need car (or 'booster') seats to get the most of a vehicle's safety features.

-If you get in a major accident in which your car rolled over, severely cratered in somewhere, struck multiple times, you or a passenger was ejected from the vehicle, a passenger was killed or severely injured, the best place to go is nowhere at all. Turn your car off, if you can, and stay exactly where you're at (This is of special importance if you can see downed utility lines outside or on the car or if you've struck a phone or utility pole). Immediately dial 911, take a tally of your injuries and those of your passengers, remain calm and clearly relay what you know to the dispatcher so they'll be able to send all the right resources. Some things to take note of are how fast you were going when you crashed, how many passengers there are on your part, how badly a passenger or yourself is injured, and particularly whether or not you're suddenly missing a passenger or two. The only time you want to get out of your vehicle in the event of a major accident is once you're sure it is safe to do so AND if there is an absolute need to do so, such as the car catching fire or becoming submerged. Please allow EMS to 'check you out' and make sure you're stable, preferably while you're still inside your car.

- Finally, take the time to do your regular maintenance. Good tires will keep you on the road, keep you in control, and keep you out of accidents in situations where bad tires won't. A burned out indicator or dysfunctional brake lights can be the reason for a completely avoidable accident.