"Watch out!" screamed my friend as we were turning the corner that connects Tuck Drive to the Gold Coast. But it was too late. I had already run into a young girl as she skidded her new bicycle into my driver's side mirror. The girl was fine and she quickly picked up her bike, but I was not as stable.
I got out of my car and started to sob. What had I just done? Was she really fine? What about my memory? Was this incident going to convert itself into a flashback to haunt me forever? Did I take that corner too quickly? What if it had been a little kid?
This incident has slowly disappeared from my memory, as it occurred about two years ago, but it is still a reminder that we all need to be a little more careful about our driving in Hanover. There are many pedestrians and bikers in town and just because we were taught to look both ways before crossing the street doesn't mean that we always do. In fact, when I decided that I would write this article I started to pay closer attention to the cars that speed unnecessarily along Tuck Drive or Main Street. Usually cars have to move slowly during the day because class is in session. Yet at night, when it gets harder to see, the speed of the cars picks up. Perhaps people speed to show off. Maybe they are impatient or just not paying attention to the location of the road. I am not quite sure, but I do know that I value my life and the lives of others enough to know when to slow down and take responsibility.
Responsibility is not an absolute protection from accidents, but given that most accidents are preventable, I'd like to think that I aided in the contribution topreventability and not an increase in my liability insurance.
My suggestions for a safer campus are simple: given that it is very difficult to see pedestrians and bikers at night, nightime drivers need to pay extra attention because of the lack of vision. Don't drink and drive, don't drive if you are extra tired, pay attention to the road and not the conversation in the back seat. Pedestrians also have a reciprocal responsibility to make sure that they too pay attention to the cars. Bikers should have reflective gear to help drivers see them.
If drivers are aware that it is difficult to see pedestrians, and pedestrians are aware that drivers do not always have great vision, then the two forces are working together to create safer streets. So much of the prevention of accidents is in awareness. When I was a young girl one of my favorite neighbors, a sort of grandfather-like figure in my young life, was killed instantly when he was hit by a car. It was his own fault that he was killed because he was not paying attention to the traffic and because he was "jaywalking" at a well known dangerous intersection. The fact that his death was not the fault of the driver did not lessen her pain. And this news did not help to soothe the family's pain either.
My point is that we often think we are invincible and that nothing can hurt us because we are young. However, the truth is that we are every bit as vulnerable to danger and death as the next person. It is important to realize how precious our lives are and take the extra second to fasten our seatbelts, look both ways or simply say I love you. There are so many things in life over which we have no control; why not at least make an attempt to be responsible in our control when we have the opportunity to do so?
