Please Drive Carefully!

You turn 17; you can buy a lottery ticket, smoke, get married, you're not quite mature enough to buy alcohol, but you are mature enough to be put in control of a 1/2 ton ball of steel.  Everyone hears about teenager drivers being stupid, driving too fast, being reckless in order to look cool in front of their mates, but you don't hear as much about the tragic accidents that happen every day to people who are careful.

February 20th was the day one of my 14 year old students was killed walking to school.  A car was slowly overtaking another that had stopped to drop someone off, she stepped off the pavement without looking and was hit.  She would have been ok, but her head hit the kerb and she died.  Today, right in front of me, a man lost consciousness at the wheel of his van, mounted the pavement and killed a woman walking down the high street.  Both of these were tragic accidents that should never have happened.  Both drivers were being careful, both were sensible, responsible, experienced drivers, but both now have to live with the fact that they have killed someone.

I've driven for 9 years, I consider myself to be an ok driver, a bit fast, but safe.  I sometimes think we've become desensitised to how we drive; sometimes we forget that we are in charge of potentially lethal weapons.  When we're learning, we are so aware of every bump, every drain cover, every tiny curve in the road, every pedestrian and cyclist within a 5mile radius, every second of every journey is embedded in our brains, but how many times have you been cruising along happily and can't remember the last 2minutes?  Do you know the colour of the car behind you?  Why is the 3rd car in front breaking?  The single headlight coming towards you is actually a car with a bulb out, not a motorbike...

It is awful enough to realise you could have avoided an accident, but how awful must it be to realise there was nothing you could do?  No matter how good you are, how careful you are, how safe you are.  There was nothing you could do.

Remember: No text or phone call is THAT important, no meeting is THAT urgent, you are NOT ok if you have had 1 small beer, you are NOT ok if you have been up all night...  Please be careful, please think, if you want to take a risk, go skydiving!