As traffic safety professionals, we track crashes, deaths and injuries and we watch trends. And we keep our focus on the 4 Es of crash prevention — Education, Engineering, Enforcement and EMS.
We all do this work with a passion to achieve the most important of goals: Reducing deaths and injuries on our state’s roadways.
But even with that consistent level of commitment, nothing can get you fired up like experiencing dangerous driving practices first-hand. In early July I had three such terrifying encounters in less than 18 hours:
- Just blocks from leaving my St. Paul office for a meeting I witnessed, in a too-close-for-comfort way, a crash at a parking lot entrance caused by the lack of mirror use.
- Moments later, I was dumfounded as I watched a driver enter a freeway on ramp, then apparently change their mind, and make a U-turn UP the interstate ramp in the wrong direction.
- The following morning, on my way to a meeting, a driver crossed four lanes of heavy traffic at a high rate of speed immediately in front of me. Scary!
I was unable to see the person behind the wheel in any of these frightening events, but I’d say the odds are probably pretty high that at least one of these drivers was distracted by cellphone use. And, while to the best of my knowledge no one was seriously injured or killed in crashes involving those drivers, the outcome could have been very different.
Each of these experiences left me shaken but more dedicated than ever to the cause of safe driving. A growing number of resources are at our fingertips on DriveSafeMN and other traffic safety sites. We must all commit ourselves to using them and reducing the number of crashes and close calls.
Yours in traffic safety,
Lisa
Minnesota NETS Coordinator
While we prioritize education, these close calls provide important motivation for all of us. Do you have a recent experience to share? Have you attended a recent presentation that has changed your driving behavior? Email me at lisa.kons@mnsc.org and we’ll feature a few stories in my September blog.
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