Pay Attention When Driving

I’m always telling people to be aware. It is the number one thing you can do to increase your safety. And yes, if you haven’t watched my Situational Awareness videos or downloaded my free guide to Awareness (over to the right), do so immediately after reading this blog.

This morning when I was getting my daughter ready for school, I heard a big crash outside. Looking out the window, I didn’t see anything. A few minutes later we went outside to walk to school and I saw what happened two houses down.

A kid in a red car ran into a large white parked trailer.  How could you not see a large white trailer sitting there on the side of the road?  It was daylight. It was clear out. No reason to not see it except for doing something other than paying attention while he was driving.

I don’t know if it was his phone or his food that had him distracted.  (I overheard part of the conversation between the young man and the owner of the trailer as we walked past on the way to school, and both were mentioned.)  The owner was not happy and couldn’t believe the kid ran into such a large visible object, and by the few words of the heated exchange, he didn’t like that the kid had told him he shouldn’t have parked it there.

The street I live on has cars, trucks, and trailers parked along the side all the time. This wasn’t something new. And it was big and white!  If you were even remotely paying attention you would see it. The kid had to have been looking down for a long time, because he ran smack into the back of the trailer without even hitting the brakes first.  I’m not saying the young man is a bad kid, or a bad person; but a few minutes of carelessness just cost him, or his parents, a lot of money.

When I got back from taking my daughter to school, the police and tow truck were there.  The car’s front end was smashed up where it couldn’t be driven. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is totaled.  Not sure how much damage to the trailer.

I filmed this short safety message just after they pulled the car and trailer apart. See how big and visible the trailer is?

Now here’s the scarey thing.  There are a lot of kids that live on this street. They are a lot harder to see than that big trailer. I’ve seen people park behind that trailer to take kids out of a car. What if he would have hit them instead of the trailer?

Today, only the red car was destroyed. Many times people are hurt or killed. You must be aware and pay attention when driving. And I prefer to say you must be aware and pay attention all the time.  People think it’s just common sense. Well, common sense isn’t commonly practiced.  So stay alert, it will save you money, and it might just save your life.

Take care and stay safe!