Name: Robert E Nealan
From: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Votes: 0
What’s Important Now?
Every single day, people get into their vehicles without considering the dangers or consequences of their actions. They drive to work, home, school, and other various locations without assessing the state of their vehicle, traffic conditions, and hazards of the roadway. We have such busy lives, that we never stop to consider what’s important now. Unfortunately for many individuals this costs them their lives.
One example of such occurred on October 19, 2020; just outside of Owensville, Ohio. A police dispatcher was heading home with his nine year old daughter on a curved incline of State route 132. It was dark and raining, but that didn’t matter to a woman driving her f250 in the opposite direction. The driver of the f250 had four wheel drive and wasn’t speeding, and thought she was safe going down the curved incline. Unfortunately, she didn’t consider the inclimate conditions were important. That is until she slid left of center and collided head on with the dispatcher and his daughter, killing the nine year old and placing the dispatcher in the ICU at a local hospital.
We are so desensitized by the constant presence and media portrayal of vehicles that we fail to consider they are 3000 lbs of steel and plastic that carry enough force to take another’s life. We think, ‘I can speed a little on the highway and make up a few minutes’ to prevent from being late. We don’t consider that making it safe is What’s important now. The same is true for vehicle maintenance, we don’t consider the safe function of the vehicle is What’s important when we plan any trip.
The current rise in traffic accidents is due to another important issue. Distraction. What’s important now when driving? The answer is driving. A text can wait, the phone call can happen later, the radio station can be changed when it’s safe. Driving and road hazards cannot and often allow for mere seconds of reaction time at best. Thus when driving, every single driver should think What’s Important Now? If you don’t, then it is too possible and likely that you will find yourself looking back wondering why you didn’t.
