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Two immutable facts are upon us: Summer is here and Americans will be hitting the road.
Even with inflation and gas prices soaring, U.S. motorists will do a lot of traveling in the months ahead. They may be taking shorter trips in some cases, but they’ll be on the move all the same.
And therein, danger lurks.
That’s the worry of the AAA, which has labeled summertime as the “Deadliest 100 Days” of driver safety in this country.
A story in Tuesday’s Press & Dakotan examined the concerns — heightened by the fact that national traffic fatalities last year hit a 16-year high, increasing more than 10% over 2020, according to federal statistics.
That’s why AAA officials are urging even more caution out on the roadways this summer …
But many motorists never really think much about that as they go about their daily rituals of getting in a car or truck and either taking a long trip or driving down to a store to pick up some items. Even short trips in town can lead to issues. And rural areas have problems just like congested urban areas.
All these dangers are heightened in the summer, when more drivers are on the road.
In addition, young drivers are out of school and hitting the road. Shawn Steward of AAA South Dakota noted that teen drivers are relatively inexperienced and bring different risk factors to the roadways.
But it isn’t just youth and inexperience that are the problems, as the national fatality rate is up across the board in all age groups. There are issues with distracted driving, which has become one of the top risks on the roads. Drivers who are impaired by alcohol or drugs also present issues. Meanwhile, motorists (including passengers) who don’t use seatbelts can contribute to the problem, too.
Defensive driving is a must. You can do everything right when you are behind the wheel, but you could still wind up in harm’s way because of the actions of other drivers. In this age of ever-increasing distractions, this is particularly true. (Back in the 1970s, there was a safety campaign that featured the slogan, “Watch out for the other guy.” That sage advice still applies now.)
“You really have to drive defensively because so many people just don’t seem to be paying attention to the road when they’re driving,” Steward said. “That’s a scary thing when you’re driving a vehicle that weighs a ton or a couple of tons. Those are dangerous weapons if you’re striking another vehicle and not aware of what’s going on around you.”
But the biggest problem you face is the fact that you know all this already. You know you need to keep your eyes on the road and stay alert and aware. Keeping it all in mind when you get behind the wheel and hit the road may be the most challenging hurdle each of us faces. And summer only heightens the need — and the demand — for caution.
kmh
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(1) comment
Voice and I have become such familiar buddies on this feed, that I’m anticipating his response.
And I’m replying in advance to move things along a bit.
Young folks like Voice didn’t experience the deadly body count of the Vietnam era and its bitter unrest - or the Treasonous Nixon Presidency - or 13.5% inflation during the Reagan era.
So I indulgently understand what’s happening now freaks many youngsters into paroxysms of apocalyptic predictions of impending doom as they see for the first time what appears to them as unprecedented catastrophes.
Of course, after reading Mr. Hertz’s piece, Voice will note the burden inflicted on Americans by higher gas prices, which he tells us is all Biden’s fault.
And in fact, he probably is representative of the majority of Americans who will punish Democrats at the ballot box as they usually do when the economy is bad.
For confirmation of this pattern, just observe that after the economy crashed during the George W. Bush era, many of today's Trumpsters voted for a Black Man with the middle name of Hussein!
In America the economy trumps even racism. Not righteous perhaps, but still, it’s lucky.
And fortunately the rise in gas prices really isn’t all Biden’s fault. And just as fortunately, the voters’ likely changing of the guard in both houses of Congress and perhaps even in the White House won’t itself change reality.
High gas prices are here with us for a long while. Maybe forever.
I say this isn’t Biden’s fault, not because I’m a “true believer” in Biden. (This, of course, is what Voice always maintains in his “strawman” responses to my posts.)
Rather, I’m actually glad that gas prices will remain high. But I don’t credit Biden for this.
The fact that gas prices are high around the world is a fairly clear indication that Biden isn’t really responsible for this, and thus he won’t really be able to stop it.
And neither will any Republican. Trumpster or RINO.
This is because the geopolitical energy calculus has changed almost overnight. The need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels is now being driven by a desperate desire of free world countries to free themselves from their reliance on our worst enemies.
And the whole world will eventually follow to free themselves from reliance on fossil fuels as alternatives become cheaper than the new cost of petroleum.
As a confirmed Capitolist I’m amused and delighted to see the Market begin to solve a problem that our politics won’t:
The clear and present threat of global warming.
There is long suffering ahead. But our Planet has new hope…
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