I don’t know what it is about springtime that brings out the haphazard ways of everyone but accidents are happening all over the place and we all need to pay better attention to what we are doing. I am specifically concerned with children at play and the adults who are driving too fast to see where they are. Three separate incidents in the past week, one of which involved me, have given me the wake up call and I am passing it on to you.
Last Monday a frantic call came from one of the caretakers of my 6 year old nephew who was riding his bicycle at home. He has been told countless times to stay out of the road but of course the moment no one is watching he takes his bicycle immediately into the street. Thankfully a kind man was driving by very slowly and was able to stop in time to allow Jordan to get out of the way, but had a driver been less cautious I shudder to think what might have happened. It shook the man up enough that he went to the door of the house to report the almost accident. Jordan lost his allowance and bicycle privileges for two weeks and thinks that is unfair. We are thankful we didn’t lose Jordan.
On Saturday morning my partner, Dr. Tracy Green, got a telephone call from her sister in Charleston, South Carolina, to report that her 13 year old nephew had not been quite so lucky. It seems that Zachary was riding his bicycle on the quiet street of his own neighborhood and was hit by a car. The driver was not paying attention and neither was Zach, so the car struck him. Lucky for him and all of his family he escaped with some minor bumps and abrasions but will be fine in a short time. He wore his bicycle helmet and his head was kept safe, but he did bet banged up a little bit along his legs and shoulders. Their family will not suffer any long term loss as a result of this mishap, but it could have been much worse.
Just this past Sunday morning, after a nice weekend in Atlanta doing museum hopping I was checking out of the Marriott Suites in Midtown on 14th Street and was maneuvering out of the very tight confines of the parking garage. Thankfully there was a car that was double-parked as its owner was either loading or unloading a huge cart of luggage and I had to drive very deliberately not to strike any of the concrete walls to get around them. If I had been traveling at a normal 5 or 10 miles an hour to navigate the parking garage a young boy who was about 9 or 10 years old would be seriously injured or worse. Out of the clear blue this little boy literally ran into my car as he flew on his skateboard down one of the ramps in the garage directly into me. I don’t know where his parents were but I let him know how dangerous the situation was and that he could have been killed. I was shaken for the rest of the afternoon as I drove home looking everywhere for children who might be playing where they have no business. I crept across parking lots at the BP station and at Kroger like I was a 90 year old driver because I was certain that at any moment a child was going to dart in front of me.
We all know on an intellectual level that children have no business driving their bicycles or riding their skateboards in places where cars usually are. We also know on a practical level that they will always be where they don’t belong because most of us did the same things when we were children. No matter what our brains might think the responsibility of looking out for the safety of our children lies with us – the adults who have been entrusted with caring for and setting examples for them. As parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and other responsible caretakers it is our job to teach our children how to keep themselves safe while they are at play. As drivers we must keep children in mind all the time as we travel our roads, parking lots and parking garages as these forbidden playgrounds are sometimes too alluring for children to resist. As taxpayers we might just need to request that bicycle lanes be made a part of future road planning not only for our children to use but also as a route for some people who might use a bicycle as an alternative to paying a king’s ransom for a gallon of gasoline. Other civilized areas have done this with great success and bicycles are more readily utilized. Check out areas of Atlanta and Savannah in close proximity to colleges and universities and you will certainly see bicycle friendly streets.
My eyes and ears have definitely been opened this week to the increase in traffic from children at play. Please watch out for them as spring lights the way for summer, when children will be at home more and on their own wheels in places where you ordinarily might least expect to see them. Treat your body well.