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No drivers are immune to accidents

By Staff | May 5, 2014

With the continued rainfall in our area, I have been amazed at the lack of courtesy and even common sense of drivers on our roadways. The lack of lights and wipers in poor weather conditions added to constant distractions like cell phone usage and plain old impatience can find anyone in a bind.

When it is pouring rain, turn your lights on! While drivers may feel they don’t need their lights on to see where they are going, having them on sure makes the car visible to drivers coming from the other direction as well as making cars behind visible in the rearview. This can be said not only during rain, but in snow (which thankfully we seem to be done with this year) and fog. Common courtesy aside, these things are required by law. If windshield wipers are needed, lights must be on.

Drivers should also leave a bit more space between cars, especially in this yucky weather. Regardless of what some drivers may believe, they cannot stop as quickly on wet pavement as on dry and hitting standing water can make any vehicle slide.

If not for the safety of oneself, drivers need to be aware that their actions can affect others on the roadway. Again, many drivers believe they will never cause an accident; however, driving without lights, wipers and caution can turn into an ugly scene in the blink of an eye.

Add to that the constant cell phone usage, even in less than ideal weather and it is a recipe for disaster.

I am amazed at the number of people who are texting-looking down and not paying a bit of attention to the road or the car they are driving. Kudos to the police forces who focused on a massive crackdown against texters recently. Keep up the good work!