Dangerous Adult Human Tricks

Yes, these are indeed actual photos that have not been altered in any way. I know because I shot them myself at real Michigan schools during the past year and I didn't alter them.

How bout a New Years resolution to not use grandkids as human shields. OR, there could even be a resolution to put all kids under four years old in the back seat (after all, that's the law in Michigan now). Yes, I know that all kids under 13 should be back there, but I'll be happy with adults just obeying the current law for now.

OK, that's enough for New Year's week. Next week I'll post an entire photo page with more Dangerous Adult Human Tricks and greater detail regarding the risks to their children.

In the mean time, be safe this week.

2 Old 2 Txt

Yep, that's me- Too old to text. Or, so I was told. Kids do say the darndest things, don't they? But, those darn things mean the rest of us need to use extra care when driving with or near them.

See, I was talking to a group of high schoolers about some simple skills they could use to avoid crashing their cars. Crashing your car can be a real hassle, and of course young drivers have a particular penchant for this activity. So, I figured they'd appreciate some advice. I also figured I'd use the opportunity to investigate their impressions regarding a particularly vexing driver distraction- that darn texting.

Well, they were quite clear and confident about the dangers regarding this activity. They told me in no uncertain terms that I was putting myself in danger on the road by texting (I'm old, you see). They, on the other hand were not? Why not? It' simple, right? They've been texting all their young lives. Shoot, they've had years of experience at texting and,,,, well, several hours of experience operating an internal combustion vehicle in traffic. Heck, they told me that they hardly have to look at all at that tiny screen and keyboard so that most of their time can be spent almost fully engaged in the equally simple task of driving. I gotta tell you- this was not an isolated opinion, but one repeated to me at multiple schools.

OK so, today's driver safety advice: WATCH OUT. Keep your eyes on that car that's zipping along at you in the opposite lane, or coming up behind you at the traffic light. Wait till they've gone past of stopped before you take the next drink of your coffee or turn to look at your kids in the back seat. Give yourself every second to observe these expert textpert drivers in case they swerve in to your lane or look like they're not going to stop before plowing in to your posterior.

So, the two bits of advice here- 1. limit your own driving distractions at least when others are approaching, and 2. if you're the parents of soon-to-be drivers, perhaps the texting issue should be a more serious part of your parent/teen driving contract.

An Existence of One is an Existence of None

Remember when a data crash meant that the letter that we were just typing on our computer was gone and we needed to start over? Remember when data was just numbers 'n stuff and not photos, letters, videos, movies, our personal taxes, bank account passwords, all of our personal contacts, chicken soup? OK, chicken soup probably isn't considered data, but our grandma's recipe that we digitized along with all of our other family memories probably is. Remember when we used to store this precious flotsam of life like God intended us to- in shoe boxes and paper sacks?

OK, so now we've moved way beyond shoe boxes and paper sacks. Our precious data is nicely organized, categorized, digitized and packaged away in little pretty metal boxes and silicon wafers that live in our computers. Hey, nothing could go wrong with that, right? You thinking about that statement right now? Go ahead, I'll give you time................. now are you frightened?

Thus we have the saying that goes "our precious data doesn't exist at all until it exists in two places." What this means is that when the storage in our computer goes poof (which could happen at any moment), or our laptop is stolen, all of this stuff is gone- perhaps forever. This is a good time of year to think about backing up our precious digital memories since we'll probably accumulate a wad of them in during the next couple of weeks. External hard drives for storage are plentiful and inexpensive. You'll alway find at least one or two on sale, and they have so much capacity that perhaps your entire digital life would fit on one. It's time to do this.

Ok you're way ahead of me now thinking "well if I backup my entire life on one external drive what happens if that goes poof?" Thus the NEW saying that goes "data doesn't exist until it exists in four places." Those four places would be the computer, the backup drive, a second backup drive kept at work or the neighbor's house, and a backup done in another format like dvd's. The technology has given us the chance to keep and share an abundance of words, sounds and images like never before. It also means that we can lose those memories even quicker than before. Now's the time to expand our existence.

Kimberly Chooses Her Crash Site

My advice is to not have a crash at all. Great advice, eh? Yup, I'm the safety guy alright.

OK, see when I'm doing driver safety classes I spend time telling people to choose correctly when they're going to have a crash. Choose to hit something soft rather than hard. They always look at me strangely and think I'm nuts. Whether I am or not is immaterial- my advice is sound, though. When a crash is about to happen, and we KNOW it's about to happen, many drivers simply forget to steer. Here's what happened this week to our family-

Our daughter was on her way to work in the morning and traveling down a steep scary hill. It was particularly scary this week because of the nasty weather. She's working really hard on being a responsible young adult of 24. She left for work in plenty of time and was keeping watch over her speed and distances. Well, the "other" driver, the one that we're always being warned about, came around the corner going way too fast for conditions and spun out. Now he was in her lane and now she had to decide what to crash in to. Yes, she HAD to decide, because there was most certainly going to be a crash in her very near future. She actually thought through the options of "hit the car, hit the tree, hit the snow bank?" She chose the snow bank.

So, what happened? The jerk in the slider continued on his reckless journey and Kimberly sat shaken but undamaged in the snow bank. A really nice driver stopped to help her extract her vehicle from the side of the road and get to work on time. Yes, she had allowed enough time to get to work even with a car crash. She did great. Yup, she took all of the appropriate precautions, but was going to have a crash through no fault of her own. Her choices from that point, though, saved a frightening situation from turning tragic. Like I said, she did great.

Be careful out there.

Beware the Plows of December

Pretty snow. Big pretty plows. Kids building nice ice/snow forts by the road and waiting for the plows to come by and knock 'em down. Or, just standing by the road to be showered in plow snow. Yup- plow snow that also includes rocks, ice chunks, car parts, small animals and various other hard items that leave a mark when they hit kids at 30 miles per hour. Time to once again have kids wait for their buses well back from the street and play far away from the plow driver at work.

It's a Bridge Tech Thursday

Good news US 2 travelers- The Cut River Bridge is open. For those of you that don't regularly travel the northernmost of US highways, this site is located west of the Mackinac Bridge and has been under reconstruction for quite some time. See, it had a bit of a washout problem a couple of years ago, and it has design features similar to the bridge that failed in Minnesota. Now it is freshly refurbished, reinforced, and ready for service. It is also a high-tech communicator, telling it's eager listeners about the weight of vehicles approaching and crossing it, moisture data from on top and below the surface, ice formation, current weather conditions and other vital facts concerning its well being. As you pass by you'll see its communication tower positioned in perfect line-of-site for transmitting this into to receivers at the Mackinac Bridge. Its brain and mouth get energy from the solar panels on the tower (there's no power plug at the Cut River). Take a couple of minutes out of your journey from St. Ignace to Duluth and stop for a stroll across the upgraded pedestrian walk-way. It's a great view high above Lake Michigan. Safe travels.

No-Crash Wednesday

Time to review crash avoidance for winter. My recommendation- don't do it. OK, here are the top tips to avoid the crash.

- That darn extra time/distance thing. You just have to allow more time for your trip and more distance between you and the vehicle in front. Plop an invisible barrier between you and that car and do not enter it- especially at an intersection.

- Don't forget to steer. Our primary focus during a crash situation is to STOP. But, stopping in time to avoid the crash may not be possible. So, once you've engaged those anti-lock brakes, don't forget to steer out of the way. Remember, anti-lock brakes do not necessarily stop you any quicker than threshold braking. Their primary purpose is to allow you to continue steering. In a crash situation, many drivers forget to steer. To use your anti-lock brakes you only need to remember two things- brake and steer.

- Check to see if your vehicle has electronic stability control (ESC). All passenger vehicles sold in the US after September 2011 will be required to have this safety feature. ESC works in concert with the anti-lock brake system to correct over-steering (when the back of the car slides out), or under-steering (when the car loses grip in the front). ESC helps bring the car back under control and heading in the direction you intended.

- Still not sure what to do? Look and steer in the direction you want to go, NOT at where you don't want to go. We often tend to fixate on the thing that we DON'T want to hit and then end up aiming for it.

What did you learn today?

I've been busy reading lots of Great Start web sites from around the state as I prepare for a job interview. They all say that the period from birth to five has a massive impact on this developing human's future potential (and abilities to really enjoy life). They're sucking up knowledge and experiences as fast as they can be spewed forth by their environment. When they learn to "learn"- to listen and make connections, it moves this process along even more efficiently.

So, this early childhood is vitally important. We all know that, BUT it is also most likely the time when young parents are most overwhelmed and stressed. Help that child learn to learn?! Parents are just trying to figure out how to get through the day without any major problems. That's what has me thinking about our Safe Kids activities that I'm involved with and how to apply this insight further. The kid's don't know what they need to know, and the parents most likely don't either (through no fault of either party), so we gotta help creatively and without judgement (not always easy).

I'm reminded of many years ago when I asked Kimberly "what did you learn today," and she'd most likely tell me "nothing special" (pretty much what I would have said in middle school too). Well, that just can't be, I figured. I had her start a journal listing just one thing that she learned each day, and challenged her to keep it going for just one month. She did a great job with that and had a bit of fun. I found that little notebook a while back and saw some real insights in it. It's a nice exercise, but I guess I'd like to suggest the same for parents. What did you learn from 0r about a child today? Just one thing. Think I'll try it and see what I've learned in a month. Perhaps that's how I'll know more about helping a child learn how to learn.

OK, I now have an actual web site that, if you use it correctly, will send you right back here. I guess that's some kind of progress, eh. You can find it at http://web.me.com/doaktc/Site .

I'll be off to Escanaba this week for the UP Traffic Safety Committee. I'll see several of the folks that I attended a Michigan Department of Community Health meeting in St. Ignace with a week ago. We're excited about the prospect of coordinating hospital policies and procedures for sending newly minted infants off in to their family vehicles. There doesn't seem to be widespread standardization of this procedure and so we will be working on that.

The first snowfall is on its way. Don't forget how to drive. Just allow more time and space.

I welcome you to visit my Linkedin page until I have the time to compete construction of my facebook identity and this blog. Find me at www.linkedin.com/in/freddoelker . You are also welcome to visit my photo gallery at http://gallery.me.com/doaktc . Nope, I haven't gotten Twitter going, but you can be assured that'll be next.