Please Don't Kill Me

Yesterday I was up early because one of my dogs sensed that I was awake and tossed himself on top of me for some attention.  Just a normal day, I got up, went downstairs to let the dogs out, brew some coffee, feed the dogs and catch up on the news.  When I sat down to open up my laptop and pursue some online reading it was about 6:45 am in the morning.

An email alert from Columbia Patch caught my attention - teen driver killed.  A sixteen year old boy who was probably driving way too fast, lost control and wrapped his car and himself around some trees and killed himself.  I have a sixteen year old nephew and he'll be driving soon and for some reason this news story just stuck with me.

I looked out my sliding glass door at the quiet scene that is my backyard.  Not many of my neighbors are up at that hour.  Were this boy's parents awake yet?  Did they wake up on their own or to the knock on their door from the Howard County Police Department?  Had they had breakfast or coffee yet before their lives were shattered?  When  you went to bed last night your son was fine, but you woke up and he was dead.

For the past week and a half I've been looking at pictures on my Facebook page of all my friends kids heading off to prom and graduating from high school.  I've seen pictures of kids as they got their acceptance letters to college.  This kid's parents don't have that to look forward to anymore.  I'm guessing they had to go and identify a body, and start calling relatives and close friends, and making funeral arrangements....

I don't know this kid.  I didn't recognize his name and I don't think I know his parents or anything other than the story I read that he had been killed.  I just feel really badly for the parents and his family.  

What is the example we all set though when we're driving?  From the time they're first born, kids are in cars watching and learning how it's done.  In the morning on the way to work I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to take the middle lane from route 70 (heading towards Towson) when I get on to the Beltway.  It's a two lane exit, but then we have to merge into a single line and we're supposed to take turns.  Of course there are drivers who hate to let trucks in and some people who don't want to let anyone in, and the other day there was a car that came flying down the lanes and well past the merge area came in hot and slammed on his breaks so he could get the MOST front space possible.  Dangerous move to say the least and showing not a care for anyone else.  I couldn't see the driver so I don't know how old or what gender this person was.

On the way home from work I drive through the 'chute' as I refer to it.  The section of road where 29 south merges with people coming off route 40 and then people try to move around getting to the left to exit on to route 100 or to the right to exit on to St. John's Lane.  I stay in the far right hand lane and just hope for the best.  People are tailgating, speeding, and frankly just not aware at all of anyone other than themselves. I am amazed that we don't have more accidents there.

The other day a mini van was weaving next to me on the highway and I thought they might have been drunk.  This was in the morning, but people drunk drive in the morning too.  Turns out the woman driving was on her cell phone.  She had the phone up to her right ear as she drove along, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, and weaving into the center lane or the breakdown lane as she went along - not noticing that one car had to jump into another lane to avoid being hit by her.

Tonight a car behind me on the way home on Marriottsville Road used an exit lane to speed up and pass several cars on the right.  As I was exiting on to 29 south from 70 east a red Prius came speeding up, hopped in front of me when there was little to no space there and then hit their brakes.  I do practice defensive driving and was ready to hit my own brakes and just hope that the person tailgating me didn't rear end me.

These are not one off incidents either.  These are daily occurrences and they happen to all of us.  People weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds, tailgating, and running lights.  People taking chances with all of our lives so they can go just a little faster, get a place in a long line closer to the front, and in general driving recklessly.  People who would never dream of owning a gun, taking other people's lives in their hands with the way they drive.

I don't know if this teenager was influenced by this or not.  Maybe he just liked the power of the car and hitting the gas.  It's quite possible his parents are very cautious drivers and set a great example.  Still, when kids get behind the wheel and see the rest of us driving the way we do, how else are they supposed to think it's done?

Daily we take chances with each others' lives and we think nothing bad will happen.  Every once in a while though that isn't how it works out.  A motorcycle rider ends up with a broken leg that almost needs to be amputated.  A driver ends up dead.  Kids end up without a parent.  Parents end up without a kid.

I'm asking nicely.  Please don't kill me.  I have a lot to live for and I suspect you do too.