This week has been a dandy. I have decided to catch folks up on the state of the union on our roads and streets, leaving the train wreck of a SOTU to the pundits who get paid to raise hell about such things. Traffic safety experts are focusing on the causes of our rising death rates on our highways, a consideration I was once paid to mitigate. You might be surprised as to the factors in play today reversing decades of decline in fatal accidents brought about by engineering and safety improvements.
Where are we? From 30,000 feet, our fatality rate is 3 times that of Canada and Australia and 5 times that of England and Scandinavian countries. The past decade, in America, has been unforgiving on our roads.
First up is physics. The true killer in an accident revolves around the dissipation of energy, mass in motion if you will. A human being at rest is dissipating little energy, where as if they are in motion, it takes energy to get them there and energy to stop them. The weight of SUVs and their higher center of gravity is a factor. The more weight that is in motion, the more energy is available to disassemble the human being attached to or in it. Simple really.
Next up, marijuana is making its presence known. One study has determined that about half of folks involved in serious accidents had at least one active drug in their systems. Most folks react to an impending crash by attempting, in some way, to avoid it. When you are mellowed out, smoking a fat boy of some exotic weed, you are not going to react quickly. Delay then triggers the chain reaction that results in everything coming to rest, often with bent steel and torn flesh, and far too often to those who were innocently motoring along, driving within the law.
While other considerations are in play, such as relaxed enforcement, cable and concrete barriers that preclude moving speed measurement (by patrol officers), the next clearly evident factor is the cell phone. In America you get one when you quit teething, and it has become a huge distraction in driving. In fact, these little devices are patently addictive. Despite half hearted attempts by governing bodies, drivers are routinely distracted while texting and manipulating their phones. This becomes even more deadly when done during hours of darkness. Take the physics issue and combine it with the uniquely American obsession with the cellphone and you are going to bend steel and rend flesh. The statistics don’t lie. Cellphone distraction is quickly rising to the top of the list of deadly obsessions.
I am preaching here, but have vivid memories of folks who have ended their day on a stainless steel or porcelain table in the preparation room of a local mortuary. Driving is a serious business that deserves strict attention not distraction or mental compromise. Engineering is wonderful, but will never displace the laws of physics or effects of mental compromise. Some 40,000 dead folks annually make my point.
Attila the Hun once remarked that you should not kill the Hun who brings the bad news, rather praise him. If you use your phone while driving or drive while toked up……I am talking directly to you. I make no apologies.
Have a great week!
SR
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