A Non-Fiction Tragedy

STUPID KILLS

An Opinion Piece

by Don Winfield

I estimate that 95% of the untimely deaths on this planet are from stupidity. Yep. If you don't die of one of the terminal illnesses that will eventually kill every species that has a pulse, as a human you're most likely to die of an act of stupidity.  It may be yours, but it could be someone else who's the cause. Old age gets credit for nearly all of the natural (non-stupid) deaths, even though the autopsy usually names a specific cause. Face it. We get old, all our parts get old at the same time.  Sooner or later either enough of of those parts, or one of them that's really essential, gives up the ghost. But, 'natural causes' is not what this rant is about.

Unless, of course, stupidity has achieved 'natural cause' status.

Today, I went to the scene of an incredibly tragic act of stupidity. Wednesday, a relative of a man who belongs to an actual social organization that I am a member of, became a victim of blatant stupidity. A few minutes after noon, while most people and maybe even the victim, were either thinking of lunch or sitting down to eat, his life came to sudden violent end.

This was a case of another person's stupid act tragically terminating this man's hopes and dreams. Stupidity altered the lives of his family, friends, and everyone who depended upon or loved him.

On an acceleration ramp of a major highway, some damned fool pulled the stupid stunt of stopping in the driving lane. The key to successfully negotiating an acceleration lane is to accelerate! Stopping is not an offered option. There's no stop sign there. I looked.

Except for the obvious, no one will ever truly know the final thoughts and actions of the victim.  But, it's likely safe to say he was following a vehicle up the high speed acceleration lane. He was presumably accelerating to blend into the 65 mph plus Summer traffic heading north on Interstate 81. I would be looking in my mirrors, glancing over my shoulder to the left, and gauging the speed of approaching traffic. That's what you'd be doing, too. That's what you are supposed to be doing. It's the safe thing to do.

In the split second it takes to check traffic behind you, either in your mirror or with a sideways glance, a lot can go wrong. What went wrong this time was that the idiot right ahead of my friend's brother-in-law, stopped. He fucking stopped!

I didn't mention it, but the victim's mode of transportation was one that's invisible to too many motorists. He was riding his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. When you stop dead in front of a motorcycle being driven by someone who assumes you're going to do the right thing on an on ramp, that's what your doing. You're stopping him dead. The motorcycle rider braked hard. The skid marks are still painting the highway at the accident scene. It looks like that's all he had time to do.

From my experience, having ridden a motorcycle for several decades, many automobile drivers operate under a shroud of misinformation. Generally, they feel that motorcycles are dangerous, foolish contraptions, which are ridden only by mouth breathing knuckle draggers. That is, of course, if they think of them at all. A large percentage of the automobile driving public ignores motorcycles.  Automobile operators frequently offer no common courtesy to motorcyclists.  They seem to operate under the false impression that bikes can stop on a dime. That entire train of thought is flawed, and kills hundreds of motorcyclists every year.  

Motorcycles can't stop as quickly as a car.  They can't they swerve as nimbly around an obstacle as a car can.  The unbend-able laws of physics prohibit it.

Don't be stupid. When you are driving a car, be aware 360 degrees around you.  Just like the Driver's Ed instructor taught you. Watch for the small profile of a bike.  

When you're riding your motorcycle, scooter, or even your old blue bicycle, be 100 times more careful and alert than you are in the relatively safe steel cocoon of your car.

Remember... Don't be stupid.  Stupid kills.