Bill’s Bulletin Board
By Bill Rea

I took in a talk last week that made me think.

On another level, it scared the hell out of me.

The talk was delivered by Bob Annan, from an outfit called Accident Awareness Inc., and he was speaking to a group of kids at King City Secondary School Thursday. I was listening to him in the very room I had been in 24 hours before, taking pictures at a blood donor clinic (I think a metaphor is there), as he talked to students about the dangers on the road, both in a vehicle on on foot.

His talk was addressed to kids, but I was there, taking everything in. It was pretty heavy stuff.

There were videos, several of them from Australia, which I have understood over the years has a very “no-holds-barred” approach to spreading the word to people on issues like impaired driving. I covered the coroner’s inquest more than 10 years ago into a horrific crash in Caledon which claimed the lives of eight young people, and such clips were presented as evidence.

The warnings about drinking and driving actually took up a very small portion of his talk. Most of it dealt with awareness, and realizing that dangers can develop quickly when one is on a road, either in a car or walking along the side.

In fact, it made me think about some of the bad habits that maybe I should address.

I do a lot of driving, and I consider myself fairly good at it. Some might argue to the contrary, but who among us is perfect?

I am not. I have made mistakes behind the wheel, but considering how much time I spend in my car, I think my record is pretty good.

I have been in a couple of rear-ending incidents over the years, but there was just one occasion in which I was the rear-ender, and that was more than 10 years ago, and very minor. All the rest of those mishaps have involved people bumping into me. One time had me at the wheel of my brand new car, which I had had less than two weeks by that point. The lady who hit me was more upset than I, and most of my efforts at the side of the road were aimed at calming her down.

I felt sorry for the last guy who ran into me. My wife was in the car with me. He was apologetic, I was trying to be reasonable and Beth was angry.

So I don’t consider myself to be a menace on the road, but could that attitude represent a degree of arrogance that could make me part of the problem?

I try not to speed, but its more a fear of getting caught and paying higher insurance bills. I know that because I’m confident that I hold my car at a speed that I know I can handle, despite what the white signs at the side of the road might say.

Hmmmmm. That sounds a bit like famous last words, doesn’t it?

I’ve sometimes made mistakes at the wheel; lane changes and turns without signalling, rolling through stop signs, etc. I once drove through a neighbourhood in Toronto, following a police car that rolled through four stop signs on the same street.

But there are a couple of right things that I do.

I have always made it a practice to put on the safety belts, whether I’m driving or a passenger. I always thought it was a matter of

my own safety, although Annan’s talk pointed out something I hadn’t realized, namely that an unrestrained body can become a missile if enough force is involved, possibly injuring or killing others in the car.

Many of us made a practice of wearing seat belts, but some of us sometimes forget. That very thing happened to my wife a couple of weeks ago, and we realized after being on the road about half an hour.

There are some people who resent the fact that there’s law requiring the use of these belts. I can understand that, since there are few among us who enjoy being bossed around. Maybe gentle reminders like the one Annan offered could help them. Or maybe another reminder, such as the fact that the only person to survive the car crash that claimed the life of Princess Diana in 1997 was also the only one in the car wearing his safety belts.

There are others things people should do to protect themselves; things that I seldom have given a second thought to and I suspect a lot of you are the same. Such as really watching traffic when you’re walking along the side of the road. I hardly ever thought of that, although I guess I realized in the back of my mind that a car could easily leave the travelled part of the road and come onto the shoulder, close to me. Standing on the road at

an accident scene is another danger he warned about. I could relate to that, since I’ve been to the scenes of scores of accidents over the years. I usually look out for traffic movements in such situations, but how much attention do I really pay? That’s something I have to keep in mind.

Annan also touched on the dangers to pedestrians who cross against the lights. I’ll confess that I’ll sometimes go with a green light for traffic, even if the “Don’t Walk” signal is still on. Maybe an attitude adjustment is in order.

At the risk of sounding uppity, I don’t think my pedestrian habits are as bad as those of a lot of other people. Check out a major intersection in downtown Toronto sometime. Crowds of people march off the sidewalk the instant the lights change, happily expecting all the traffic to stop accordingly. The fact is the traffic does stop, usually, but I fear for the day when someone is going to miss the change of lights and plow right into a crowd. Those walkers might have the right-ofway, but that’s going to offer little protection against a two-ton car.

Annan’s talk last week was geared towards teens, but older guys like me were able to get something out of it too.

What is it someone once said about not being too old to learn?