Please.
Look. Those automobiles we use, they really are the WMDs. No, I’m not whining about fossil fuel abuse. I’m concerned about the pure physical destructive potential that is inherent in moving automobiles.
They are big. Heavy. Brutal. And, check this out. Sometimes we are not in charge of their destiny. Sometimes people come out of nowhere and do things they are not “supposed” to do, and in an eyeblink, mass destruction ensues.
Yesterday, I held the head of a man who lay in the middle of the road, his snarled Harley just six feet away. The SUV with whom Harley man collided had been making a left turn, the driver’s sight obscured by another large vehicle; the SUV driver went where really he shouldn’t have.
Harley man’s right arm was bent at inhuman angles. Harley man’s left hip unable to move. Traces of yellow mustard edged his lips, from a quick hot dog he grabbed for lunch just moments before.
It was a sunny day. Perfect for a simple ride.
Full leather chaps. Full leather jacket. Solid boots and helmut. Eye protection in place, shielding from glare and insects and dust. Alert. All the requisite items of safety.
But these days people are in such a damn hurry or something. Speeding through the yellow lights, even though they really are red. Hustling to turn, even when the sight lines are not clear. Jostling around stalled traffic. Ignoring the pedestrians.
I’m guilty of impatience. Crap. If the speed limit is 45, why is that driver in the left lane dawdling along doing 30? However. I do try to rise above it. Even more imporant than my state of mind, is that lives are at stake.
We are the terrorists. Motorized piles of steel and distracted, irritated, egotistic drivers.
Be careful out there.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 at 4:52 PM and filed in stupid. Bookmark this entry. Follow the comments here with the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback.
Agreed, about 45,000 people die every year from “motor vehicle” accidents. I always find it hard to internalize death statistics, maybe it’s the amount we hear about it on the news, maybe it’s denial to keep our minds safe from the shock, I don’t know. One figure that stands out is that over 10,000, or about 25% of the motor vehicle deaths are people aged between 15 - 24.
here’s a stats page: http://www.the-eggman.com/writings/death_stats.html
One thing that recently cut through my numb indifference to statistics is http://mydeathspace.com/deaths.aspx
it’s a collection of obituaries of myspace members, and the patterns are sobering to say the least.
Posted on 06-May-06 at 8:30 am | PermalinkI often think about how dangerous it is when I’m on my bike…and try to always be on the defensive. When in the car I use caution and try to avoid being stupidly impatient. Every week I either experience or watch a near-miss. It’s amazing we are all not dead already!
Posted on 20-May-06 at 4:36 pm | Permalink