That Friday began as a beautiful, sunny trip to work. Just two blocks from home, we were T-boned by a speeding red light runner, and the routine trek turned into an ambulance ride to the hospital.
We were wearing seat belts and in a solid vehicle and are truly grateful to be alive. But because of someone's carelessness and stupidity, we have a demolished car and more aches and pains added to an already stressed life.
When will this stupidity stop? Over the past few weeks, I have witnessed what seems to be an increase in folks ignoring seat belts and child restraints, and not paying attention to driving.
Seat belts save lives. My parents were hit head-on by a drunk driver many years ago. They survived only because they had a new car equipped with the first lap belts. They wore their scars and pain for the rest of their lives.
The drunk driver with license revoked went on to drive drunk again and kill a family. If you want to drink, that's your choice, but take a cab or call a sober friend. Don't drive drunk and kill or injure someone's loved ones. And buckle up to protect yourself from these witless wonders!
We encounter a woman many mornings applying mascara while driving. She's looking in the mirror, not at the road. Does she stop to think if she is involved in an accident, that mascara wand will probably ram through her eye? The next makeup application she has may be done by a mortician.
Many drivers are on cell phones with the phone in one hand and the other hand gesturing in the air or writing; the driver is moving with no hands on the wheel. And what about those cretins texting with no hands on the wheel or eyes on the road!
Unbelievably, there was a driver working on a laptop next to us at a stop sign. When traffic started to move, she continued working, moving forward with no hands on the wheel; it appeared she was steering with her knee.
I can't get out of my mind the pickup with a beautiful child and dog riding unsecured in the bed. An impact would send both the puppy and child flying. Their small bodies would be bloody pulp after they smashed into the concrete or another vehicle at 60 mph.
My heart nearly exploded when I saw a woman driving with a baby on her lap. That baby would be crushed by mom in an accident or thrown from the vehicle, its little body smashed from the impact.
And the fire truck that couldn't get around a man with music blaring so loud, he didn't even know there was an emergency vehicle trying to proceed. People eating while driving ... The list just goes on and on!
When will people stop and think what they are doing? When you step in a vehicle and turn on the engine, you are behind the wheel of thousands of pounds of lethal weapon.
Buckle up. Secure your children in safe restraints. Secure your beloved pets in carriers.
You say you secure your children, but you don't need to be secured?
Who is going to control the car if you go into a skid? A seat belt will hold you in place and give your passengers and the innocent passengers of other vehicles a chance to arrive at their destination alive.
Folks, multi-tasking doesn't work under the best of circum-stances. When driving, it can be absolutely lethal. Put your hands on the wheel and pay attention to where you are going and what you are doing. And slow down! Just a few extra minutes can ensure you and the other drivers on the road get to where they were going and not to a coroner's gurney.
Jacqueline Fries lives in Anchorage.
By JACQUELINE FRIES