Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

I’ve said it before, and I’ve said it again, and I’ll keep saying it. Unless you’ve got one of those bluetooth earpieces or some other kind of hands-free device, do not talk on the phone while driving. And even worse than that, no texting while driving. Whatever it is, it can wait. Or pull over and talk. Even if you don’t care about yourself, have some consideration for the other people on the road, you’re putting their lives in danger too. You’d think people would know this by now, but I swear I keep seeing this in other cars while I’m driving all the time.

I’m thinking about this today because I witnessed another accident as I was driving home this evening. I took the streets instead of the freeway like I usually do. I was driving down one street, it was a two-way street and the traffic in my lane stopped for a light up ahead. I was several cars behind. I suddenly heard a bump. And then the car in front of me pulled over into the middle lane to get ahead and I could see that the next car which was now in front of me had bumped into the car in front of it. And the drivers of the cars started getting out. So I pulled into the middle lane so I could cut ahead and keep driving. As I drove past I could see that it was a pretty bad hit. The front of one car and the back of the other were totaled, which was a little surprising because it didn’t sound like a huge bump when I heard it, although of course I didn’t actually see it, but it must have been pretty bad.

The point is that this is another incident that happened quickly and unexpectedly. And this is while traffic was supposed to be stopped. We weren’t even moving. Since I didn’t see it I obviously can’t say exactly why this happened, but I’d bet almost anything that the driver who rear-ended the other was either on the phone or texting (or drunk). She was obviously not paying attention and hit the pedal too soon. I feel the worst for the driver in front, minding his own business stopped at a light and someone just hits him from behind. That’s got to suck. And now they had to get out of their cars and deal with it, they’re probably both out there on the street right now, waiting for tow-trucks or whatever, and I’m just so glad that’s not me. But it could have been me. So that’s I’m saying this gain. BE CAREFUL ON THE ROAD.