Safety rises in my attention span, for self and others. Lots of threats exist, but we must not panic but prioritize and continue. The farm-boy ethic of no sick day just might not be wise. Farm boys do learn to watch where they put their foot.
My mom and dad taught me early, when we went to town, to stop and look both ways when crossing a street. This wasn’t a busy city, but a one-stop light town on a major highway down main street.
Do parents not teach their kiddos this lesson before sending them off to college?
As a driver in this growing city, I must watch out for those kids.
Three times in the past semester, I slammed on my brakes just in time to avoid running over young adults. The common theme, they were buried in their cellphone as they crossed against a red light in their crosswalk. I don’t think any of them knew how close we came.
At the first of the semester, leaving campus, four young women, all in a line like goslings, jaywalked across Hitt Street, without looking either way. Yep, each reading their cellphone totally out of this world.
These incidents came to mind this week. The Washington Post reported that pedestrian deaths rose 50 percent this past year.
A major contributor, cell phones. Right now, our handheld phones can be more fatal than Coronovirus. (But, that can change quickly.)
Now, pedestrian deaths aren’t always the result of pedestrian missteps. Drivers play a part in that inattention combination. Yep, drivers use their phones while driving. Inattention for a few seconds can be fatal. But, also, drivers may be DWI. Alcohol and drugs cause serious inattention.
Just before the winter severe weather impact on roads came along, I saw a tweet from the Missouri Highway Department: If you are involved in a crash or drive off the road on ice, stay in your car buckled up. Standing on the road, you are unprotected.
We’ve had two major, multi-vehicle pileups on the Rocheport Bridge on I-70. A death in each. In the latest, the woman got out of her car to inspect the damage and was runover by a semi.
It still amazes how many crash deaths are on folks NOT wearing their seat belt. Stay buckled up. I know, getting in and out of a vehicle takes a lot of snap ups. But you never know when you’ll be hit by an inattentive driver. Lots of them out there.
There are more self-driving cars. I’ve thought, I do not want to be on the road with a robot car. Another national story this week reported lower death rates from crashes by self-driving cars than the cars most of us drive.
Could it be, Robo Drivers don’t drink and drive, or look at their cellphones. Be careful out there — your life is at stake. And, mine. I’ll keep an eye on you.
When I get a cell call while driving, I rarely answer if I can’t pull over. And, I haven’t tasted alcohol in at least three decades. That helps my meds, also.
Attending meetings is essential for continuing education. We may have the culture on that upside down. Sick people should stay away. That allows well people to learn what needs to be done.
If there are people in the group, coughing like crazy, ask them to leave. It they don’t, you must.
I learned that the hard way, when a person in an in-service meeting sat behind me coughing for two days, my brain ignored the signs. My body didn’t and I ended up with flu followed with pneumonia. What I thought, for too long, was a lingering common cold was a near-fatal disease. Listen to your body. Take your temperature.
We can get through bad weather and infectious diseases. Tell me your idea at daileyd@missouri.edu.
