Over the river, and through the wood, is becoming much less the joyful junket it may have once been. Air travel demands paying premium priced fares for economy class seats, planes packed to the propellers, prohibitions, pat downs, and possibly theft by those entrusted with the security of our belongings.
And driving contains its own cornucopia of concerns. Much too frequently we awake to the local TV news traffic copters alerting us to the carnage caused by the latest wrong way interstate driver. And I wonder what’s happening on our roads? Are these drivers lost, confused, dangerously distracted, medically impaired, clouded by illegal substances and intoxicants, on the lam from the law, or literally asleep at the wheel?
A recent survey by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that one of ten drivers acknowledged nodding off while driving, and even more young drivers admit to drowsy driving at least once in the past year, one of seven aged 16 to 24. Driving while sleepy accounts for about one of every six fatal crashes and is said to be “the largest unrecognized traffic safety problem in the country,” according to Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of AAA Foundation.
Going without sleep for just 24 hours is approximately the sleep-impaired equivalent of having a 0.1 alcohol level. In other words, on the road, losing a good night’s sleep is about as impairing as having six drinks.
That’s something to think about as Black Friday, the beginning of the holiday shopping season, approaches. Once upon a time the big holiday sales began early on the Friday morning following Thanksgiving, so folks would wake up as early as they would for work, but go shopping instead. But over the years the shop opening times have crept ever earlier, eventually encroaching into the wee hours of the morning, then embracing the late night hours of Thanksgiving Day. Now Wal-Mart is leading the holiday shopping stampede by opening at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night, just as we’re clearing dishes from our holiday dinner tables.
That means many shoppers may be out there after consuming copious amounts of holiday spirits, having barely digested huge holiday meals, and on little or no sleep.
Smart phone apps alerting the latest bargains will further distract and impair. Although texting while driving is illegal in Georgia, state records reveal that few are convicted of the offense. The law would be easier to enforce if it included a ban on all handheld cellphone use while driving, as California, New York, New Jersey and Nevada have.
For now we can only be grateful to and thankful for those who are honestly making the effort to ignore their cellphones, are awake, attentive, sober and courteous on the roads we share every day throughout the year.
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