Quasi, and thoughts about driving
[TL;DR: We are always 4 feet from death on the roadways. Self trigger, make yourself aware of situations and apply to everything you do! Almost all accidents are avoidable!]
Let me start with this: Do you know how many people die in the USA alone on our roadways? 30,000-40,000 a year! That's atrocious. That's on par with number of deaths by firearms in the USA.
Most of you know by now that we lost our Quasi right after MFF2016. His loss was hard for many, including me. The sheriff reported that he went to pass and (apparently) did not see an oncoming car, which killed the driver of the other car immediately, while he suffered for a few hours before finally passing.
This tragic loss has again made me really aware just how dangerous driving is. Thinking back, with all the lessons I've learned, [the chore of] driving becomes very complacent as we tend to feel like we're protected in armor. In most cases, we happily (or begrudgingly) get into our cars every day, take off and arrive at our destinations without incident.
When I was 14, a friend working for insurance and claims for a trucking stated, "On a 2 lane road, when a semi is oncoming, you are 4 feet from DEATH." That was eye-opening; that's not a lot of wiggle room if you think about it. You hear about crossover accidents happening all time on two lane highways, a driver falls asleep or crosses the center line for whatever reason. MOST of the time, it's a benign incident as the person either corrects, gets back in the lane, or even runs into the ditch, relatively unharmed. However, it's those 0.01% of the time an innocent oncoming vehicle gets careened at highway speed. For this reason, I dislike driving 2 lane roads at night. It's not that I won't; I'm not scared, it's just not as safe. Why do something that increases your odds of death by 4 times when you can choose a safer path of travel, like an interstate.
Another thought that came to me after this horrific accident; I was in Ireland, I had met this guy, Tommy, at a bridge club (card game, yes I'm old). We became friends and throughout the winter and spring, became my bridge during my time in Ireland. About halfway through my residence there, we entered a weekend tournament; finished in the top third of the field, and had a lot of fun, but that's not relevant.
You have to understand that Irish roads are indeed dangerous. There are hedge rows everywhere lined with earthen, rock walls, there is no room to maneuver, blind corners, and entrances back right up to the road. After the tournament, I remember I had just walked out and was slightly in the roadway, still thinking about the tournament and some hands we had played when Tommy grabs me by my coat and pulls me toward him. A split second later, a car goes whizzing by, within a few feet of me. He says a few choice words about the driver under his breath, while I thank him profusely.
After winding down, we get into his car and head back. He drives about 30-35MPH, holding up a long line of cars that want to get back to town. Now in my mind, I think he is driving slowly because his vision was bad. Maybe it was? I see car after car whiz by us. I, myself, start to get a bit peeved at how slow we are going and ask if he needs me to drive. He noticed my slight feelings of frustrating, turns to me and says, "Sean, we'll get home when we get home. What's another 5-10 minutes? These roads are death traps; I know I drive slowly, but really, does it matter? We'll get there!"
I thought about this at the time, and really, he's right! I'll get home 5 minutes later and be fine. I relaxed a bit and soon we were indeed home.
Moving toward modern times, my company has rolled out a program called "Safestart", which talks about key causes of injuries. Almost every accident including a near miss, injury, or unfortunately, a death, can be attributed to these states: Anger/Frustration, Rushing, Complacency, and Fatigue. These cause errors in judgement such as Mind not on Task, Eyes not on Task, Line of Fire, and Loss of Balance/Traction or Grip. At first when I started taking courses in this program it seemed hokey, but now that I've been exposed to it, and understood its message, I realize it's so true and can be applied always!
Back to our unfortunate loss, I was told by a friend that Quasi had very bad road rage, that he was an angry driver. He probably got behind what he deemed a slow moving vehicle, got Frustrated with how slow they were going and decided to pass. Maybe he was not looking at the road ahead but angrily at the driver? He then put himself in the Line of Fire, which in most cases, like he had probably done 9999 times before. And with so much frequency, he was possible complacent in doing so. But the result was the most unfortunate and tragic of all.
Now you're wondering about the oncoming driver. They were totally screwed, right? Well maybe. The section of road was straight; were they paying super close attention to the oncoming vehicle(s)? Anytime an oncoming car is approaching at night, it is a dangerous situation. If they were, they might have seen two sets of headlights (maybe not) with tailgating and intending to pass. I'm definitely not making excuses at all or making light of the situation, but maybe the driver wasn't looking ahead or messing around on their phone. There might have been a chance he/she could have predicted what was about to happen. That sounds dumb that the innocent victim had a slight part in this tragedy, but think about this.
In an urban area especially, I'm hyper aware at lights with no traffic waiting on the red side. I'm constantly looking out for a car that might had not seen the light and blaze right through it, so I can prepare to react. I will have my foot hovering over the brake just a bit. 999 times out of a 1000, nothing happens, but sure enough about a month ago, I was watching for cross-traffic, and this guy decides that his red light isn't good enough for him and pulls out in front of me. I slam on my breaks, narrowly missing him. Had I not been paying attention, I would have smashed right into his driver's side door, and who knows, he might be dead. However, a few angry stares later at him was all that had transpired.
I, myself have to admit that it's easy to get bored on the road. On long drives, I need to do a better job with staying focused. The road less traveled from the Quad Cities to Chicago has very little traffic, it's straight, flat, very few interchanges, etc. But complacency can lead to an accident, where you or something else puts you in the Line of Fire. Maybe a motorbike had pulled over on the side of the road, or a deer carcass, or other obstruction fills a lane. Now granted, there is a much smaller risk with this type of roadway, but that's also what gets you into trouble in the first place!
Unfortunately, the real solution is self driving cars, which I am in favor.
My dad was driving my stepmom and me to a family event on Christmas. I can tell he definitely doesn't have good night vision anymore and it was raining. I've noticed before that he can't see the lines in the road when they are wet, and will often veer onto the shoulder or in the middle. We get behind a vehicle doing 45MPH on the interstate and my dad gets instantly frustrated. I say, "Dad, we'll get there, don't worry." He fires back, "Well this POS driver is going so slow." I try and calm him down, "Dad, it's fine, we'll get there." We arrive to the relatives without incident, but could there have been one? Possibly. On the way back, I offered/told him I was going to drive. I could almost hear a sense of relief in his voice when I told him. I need to sit down with him and explain to him the whole Safestart thing before he ends up in an accident.
Now, let's revisit my anecdote from Ireland and Tommy pulling me into the sidewalk area. I could have been a statistic; I will never know if I was too close to the roadway (thank goodness) but I wasn't focused, my mind wasn't on task as I was thinking about other things (Complacent) and I had inadvertently stepped near or into an oncoming car's path (line of fire). Most people would analyze this as, "dumb ass driver, driving way too fast, couldn't he see people were around?" Or the sad version in print, "Speeding driver hits poor, innocent kid and kills him." But in reality, I can easily be partly to blame as well. Sure, it would have been unfortunate timing for me, however, I could have easily have seen the driver coming if I had been looking around actively.
Anyway, just think about all of this when you drive. And driving is only one application, this can be applied all the time. Every day, you can be inadvertently putting yourself into harm's way. It could be as stupidly simple as walking around the house at night without the lights on and stepping on something or stubbing your toe (complacency or mind not on task; which puts you in the line of fire or if you trip over it, loss of balance or traction). Another example is falling on the ice heading to a meeting (rushing, loss of balance/traction), or hitting your head on a table when picking up something underneath it (complacency, rushing which leads to mind not on task, line of fire. And most of these things you write off in your head as being silly, "oh that was stupid, duh". With a little bit of self awareness and self triggering, they ALL could have been avoided. Turn on that light, or move said object from the floor, slow down and look at the glossy pavement, or notice the table, pick up the object and look up after, etc.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read. Take this to heart the next time you're in a foul mood, late to an appointment, or even in a great mood about a wonderful event that has just happened in your life. Don't loose focus! I hope you can learn from this and realize that a lot of accidents could be avoided in the right frame of mine. I don't want you to become a statistic as well; and I'll try and not do the same. *Big lion hugz*
Let me start with this: Do you know how many people die in the USA alone on our roadways? 30,000-40,000 a year! That's atrocious. That's on par with number of deaths by firearms in the USA.
Most of you know by now that we lost our Quasi right after MFF2016. His loss was hard for many, including me. The sheriff reported that he went to pass and (apparently) did not see an oncoming car, which killed the driver of the other car immediately, while he suffered for a few hours before finally passing.
This tragic loss has again made me really aware just how dangerous driving is. Thinking back, with all the lessons I've learned, [the chore of] driving becomes very complacent as we tend to feel like we're protected in armor. In most cases, we happily (or begrudgingly) get into our cars every day, take off and arrive at our destinations without incident.
When I was 14, a friend working for insurance and claims for a trucking stated, "On a 2 lane road, when a semi is oncoming, you are 4 feet from DEATH." That was eye-opening; that's not a lot of wiggle room if you think about it. You hear about crossover accidents happening all time on two lane highways, a driver falls asleep or crosses the center line for whatever reason. MOST of the time, it's a benign incident as the person either corrects, gets back in the lane, or even runs into the ditch, relatively unharmed. However, it's those 0.01% of the time an innocent oncoming vehicle gets careened at highway speed. For this reason, I dislike driving 2 lane roads at night. It's not that I won't; I'm not scared, it's just not as safe. Why do something that increases your odds of death by 4 times when you can choose a safer path of travel, like an interstate.
Another thought that came to me after this horrific accident; I was in Ireland, I had met this guy, Tommy, at a bridge club (card game, yes I'm old). We became friends and throughout the winter and spring, became my bridge during my time in Ireland. About halfway through my residence there, we entered a weekend tournament; finished in the top third of the field, and had a lot of fun, but that's not relevant.
You have to understand that Irish roads are indeed dangerous. There are hedge rows everywhere lined with earthen, rock walls, there is no room to maneuver, blind corners, and entrances back right up to the road. After the tournament, I remember I had just walked out and was slightly in the roadway, still thinking about the tournament and some hands we had played when Tommy grabs me by my coat and pulls me toward him. A split second later, a car goes whizzing by, within a few feet of me. He says a few choice words about the driver under his breath, while I thank him profusely.
After winding down, we get into his car and head back. He drives about 30-35MPH, holding up a long line of cars that want to get back to town. Now in my mind, I think he is driving slowly because his vision was bad. Maybe it was? I see car after car whiz by us. I, myself, start to get a bit peeved at how slow we are going and ask if he needs me to drive. He noticed my slight feelings of frustrating, turns to me and says, "Sean, we'll get home when we get home. What's another 5-10 minutes? These roads are death traps; I know I drive slowly, but really, does it matter? We'll get there!"
I thought about this at the time, and really, he's right! I'll get home 5 minutes later and be fine. I relaxed a bit and soon we were indeed home.
Moving toward modern times, my company has rolled out a program called "Safestart", which talks about key causes of injuries. Almost every accident including a near miss, injury, or unfortunately, a death, can be attributed to these states: Anger/Frustration, Rushing, Complacency, and Fatigue. These cause errors in judgement such as Mind not on Task, Eyes not on Task, Line of Fire, and Loss of Balance/Traction or Grip. At first when I started taking courses in this program it seemed hokey, but now that I've been exposed to it, and understood its message, I realize it's so true and can be applied always!
Back to our unfortunate loss, I was told by a friend that Quasi had very bad road rage, that he was an angry driver. He probably got behind what he deemed a slow moving vehicle, got Frustrated with how slow they were going and decided to pass. Maybe he was not looking at the road ahead but angrily at the driver? He then put himself in the Line of Fire, which in most cases, like he had probably done 9999 times before. And with so much frequency, he was possible complacent in doing so. But the result was the most unfortunate and tragic of all.
Now you're wondering about the oncoming driver. They were totally screwed, right? Well maybe. The section of road was straight; were they paying super close attention to the oncoming vehicle(s)? Anytime an oncoming car is approaching at night, it is a dangerous situation. If they were, they might have seen two sets of headlights (maybe not) with tailgating and intending to pass. I'm definitely not making excuses at all or making light of the situation, but maybe the driver wasn't looking ahead or messing around on their phone. There might have been a chance he/she could have predicted what was about to happen. That sounds dumb that the innocent victim had a slight part in this tragedy, but think about this.
In an urban area especially, I'm hyper aware at lights with no traffic waiting on the red side. I'm constantly looking out for a car that might had not seen the light and blaze right through it, so I can prepare to react. I will have my foot hovering over the brake just a bit. 999 times out of a 1000, nothing happens, but sure enough about a month ago, I was watching for cross-traffic, and this guy decides that his red light isn't good enough for him and pulls out in front of me. I slam on my breaks, narrowly missing him. Had I not been paying attention, I would have smashed right into his driver's side door, and who knows, he might be dead. However, a few angry stares later at him was all that had transpired.
I, myself have to admit that it's easy to get bored on the road. On long drives, I need to do a better job with staying focused. The road less traveled from the Quad Cities to Chicago has very little traffic, it's straight, flat, very few interchanges, etc. But complacency can lead to an accident, where you or something else puts you in the Line of Fire. Maybe a motorbike had pulled over on the side of the road, or a deer carcass, or other obstruction fills a lane. Now granted, there is a much smaller risk with this type of roadway, but that's also what gets you into trouble in the first place!
Unfortunately, the real solution is self driving cars, which I am in favor.
My dad was driving my stepmom and me to a family event on Christmas. I can tell he definitely doesn't have good night vision anymore and it was raining. I've noticed before that he can't see the lines in the road when they are wet, and will often veer onto the shoulder or in the middle. We get behind a vehicle doing 45MPH on the interstate and my dad gets instantly frustrated. I say, "Dad, we'll get there, don't worry." He fires back, "Well this POS driver is going so slow." I try and calm him down, "Dad, it's fine, we'll get there." We arrive to the relatives without incident, but could there have been one? Possibly. On the way back, I offered/told him I was going to drive. I could almost hear a sense of relief in his voice when I told him. I need to sit down with him and explain to him the whole Safestart thing before he ends up in an accident.
Now, let's revisit my anecdote from Ireland and Tommy pulling me into the sidewalk area. I could have been a statistic; I will never know if I was too close to the roadway (thank goodness) but I wasn't focused, my mind wasn't on task as I was thinking about other things (Complacent) and I had inadvertently stepped near or into an oncoming car's path (line of fire). Most people would analyze this as, "dumb ass driver, driving way too fast, couldn't he see people were around?" Or the sad version in print, "Speeding driver hits poor, innocent kid and kills him." But in reality, I can easily be partly to blame as well. Sure, it would have been unfortunate timing for me, however, I could have easily have seen the driver coming if I had been looking around actively.
Anyway, just think about all of this when you drive. And driving is only one application, this can be applied all the time. Every day, you can be inadvertently putting yourself into harm's way. It could be as stupidly simple as walking around the house at night without the lights on and stepping on something or stubbing your toe (complacency or mind not on task; which puts you in the line of fire or if you trip over it, loss of balance or traction). Another example is falling on the ice heading to a meeting (rushing, loss of balance/traction), or hitting your head on a table when picking up something underneath it (complacency, rushing which leads to mind not on task, line of fire. And most of these things you write off in your head as being silly, "oh that was stupid, duh". With a little bit of self awareness and self triggering, they ALL could have been avoided. Turn on that light, or move said object from the floor, slow down and look at the glossy pavement, or notice the table, pick up the object and look up after, etc.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read. Take this to heart the next time you're in a foul mood, late to an appointment, or even in a great mood about a wonderful event that has just happened in your life. Don't loose focus! I hope you can learn from this and realize that a lot of accidents could be avoided in the right frame of mine. I don't want you to become a statistic as well; and I'll try and not do the same. *Big lion hugz*