Is Your Life Worth 5 Minutes?
Brad McNeill
Nowadays everybody is in a rush on our roadways, no trip can wait that extra minute. Whether driving to or from work or even to the store to pick up milk. Lots of people are endangering themselves and everyone around them. A close friend of mine gave me the idea for this blog through her Facebook post that stated:
“I’m not one to rant on fb but when it comes to my life being at stake I’m going to. Driving up Appleby I had to slam on the brakes to a complete stop to let some idiot swerve passed a transport truck and come inches from hitting me head on. Why do you need to be somewhere so quickly that you endanger everyone around you?! Thank god the guy behind me was paying attention too. Pay attention people!”
I could not agree with her more. Too many people are in such a rush to get to their destination, they don’t stop to think about what it may cost them to get there. As an account manager at ISB, I see plenty of police reports and hear about so many accidents/fatalities that could have been avoided. The incident that my friend witnessed raises questions in my mind about driving schools for new drivers. Why is it so important that we learn to parallel park, but we don’t learn how to properly pass another vehicle on a two-lane road? Don’t get me wrong, parallel parking is needed, but my point is that I truly believe that our student driver courses should be revamped to include more real life scenarios on the roadway, like how to properly pass a vehicle on a two-lane highway. Somehow learning about it in a book just does not seem right.
So why is everyone in such a rush? Everyone wants to make it home at the end of the day, so is that 5 minutes really worth risking your life or someone else’s?
