YIKES!, Dangerous Human Tricks #3

So I know you're wondering- did I hear a crash and a scream the moment after I took this photo? Well?

Nope. The driver of the truck was not distracted just then, stopped in time, the vehicles behind the truck were oddly enough paying attention and didn't slam in to each other, and the girl made it back across the school loading loop just fine. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got upset. Nobody will really do anything to get ready for the next time this happens and the truck driver is distracted and whacks the girl after her mom who is parked on the grass median tells her to go back for something that she forgot but to hurry up because it's getting late and there is lots and lots and lots of traffic in this little school parking and loading area all wanting to get out right away. FEWSCH! Yup, just another day of student pickup at a Michigan elementary school.

This school may want to and try to do something to mitigate this danger, but it will be very difficult. You see, the traffic danger problems at this school are magnified a bit because every single one of the students needs to be picked up by a personal internal combustion vehicle. Nope- no school buses in this district. That means hundreds of cars in an area designed for a couple dozen. So, will the money saved on buses be used to build infrastructure for processing hundreds of cars 'n kids in 10 minutes? HA.

Helping schools like this is what I used to do all of the time. You'll find more photos like these on one of the photo pages on my web site at http://web.me.com/doaktc/Site.

I'll have another lovely photo and story from the roadway here in a few days.

Good Idea! Dangerous Human Tricks #2

Yea, I'd say that's a good idea. Stop for the kid.

But, let's see now- the crossing guard is looking at me (taking the photo), the kid is looking at the crossing guard, and who exactly is looking BEHIND that kid where the cars are actually coming from? Yup, just another day of student drop off at a Michigan elementary school. Another day of hundreds of kids and cars and buses mixing in a variety of creative ways. All within a few minutes. Nothing could happen here, right? The kid can stand in the traffic circle as long as he'd like. Heck, there's a crossing guard.

You can bet that this child has been taught all kinds of great stuff about not going with strangers, washing his hands, not poking his eyes out by running with scissors, but probably not that much about traffic safety. What's the number one cause of serious injury and death for kids again..........?

Got a good suggestion for a caption for this photo? I'd love to hear it.

Wait'll you see the next photo and hear the story.

Grandkids as Human Shields?

As promised, it's the first posting of Dangerous Adult Human Tricks photos. You'll find a whole page of 'em on my web site at http://web.me.com/doaktc/Site . I'll post them individually here every few days and give you some background of what we can learn from these lovely slices of daily life. Yes, I took all of the photos myself, and no, the only modifications that I have applied are is sizing them for the web. What you see is what I saw during my days doing school traffic safety consulting.

OK, so for today's selection we find this fine looking grandkid being apparently used to protect the adult from the full force of the airbag deployment. How sweet. Probably won't work, though. The force of the child's skull smacking in to the adult's will most likely result in an unpleasant outcome anyway.

But, HECK, what could go wrong here? After all, they're just creeping forward in a line of 60 other vehicles waiting to pick up hundreds of kids after school. And then they're just going to drive out of the parking lot and to their nearby destination. NOTHING could possibly cause the adult to have to brake or hit something unexpectedly. RIGHT? Well, perhaps I'm just worrying needlessly about the child being smacked by the airbag. After all, she's unrestrained and will probably be thrown out the window before anything happens. Wait, what's that law again? Aw, law schmaw. They're just driving in their nearby neighborhood.

What's that you ask? What about the other photo with little brother? Oh yes, that. Yes, the back seat would indeed be far safer for him, but then the front is,,,,,,,, well, more convenient. AND grandparent can see him better, AND the child likes it better there. Seatbelt and booster seat? No, I'm sorry he can't put the seatbelt or booster seat on right now because, you see, his backpack (which there obviously isn't time to remove) makes it way to hard to use those silly devices (required by law). Heck, his increased proximity to the passenger airbag will probably leave him pretty messed up anyway. OR, maybe he'll be thrown clear like his sister. No, they can't wait and take the time to get the kids all placed properly in the car. Don't you remember? I told you that they're in a line of 60 - 100 cars just itching to get going. What's the priority here! You're talking crazy talk.

See, the annoying thing is that this is really not a terribly unique situation. As you'll find out in my next few posts, convenience rules at schools, and adults just do not understand the risks involved in that darn internal combustion vehicle, or how quickly things happen. Convenience, speed, and happiness of the kids trumps safety most of the time.

I've helped many schools try to minimize the dangers to their kids during student pickup and drop-off. The school where these photos were taken was trying really hard to do a good job. The principal made it a priority. But, she can't control what happens within the cars and the choices made by the adults.

So, parents don't let your babies grow up to be dangerous adults. Urge the other adults that you trust with your little ones to transport them they way that they should. Life can change so quickly. They physics of car, kids and crashes are unforgiving and care nothing for convenience.

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.