Could The Christina Morris-Ward Tragedy Have Been Avoided

Listening to the news last week, I was saddened about a high school student, Christina Morris-Ward, who got hit by a car and then died.  Today is her funeral. There is no doubt in my mind both families lost out in this tragedy.  My heart goes out to all of them.

 

I am not placing blame. I don’t know who was wrong or if it was just one of those things. What I do know is that people in Maryland, both drivers and pedestrians, have a lot of bad habits that cause accidents and even deaths.

I want to take this opportunity to turn something bad into something good. After living here twenty years, these are the area's problem driving behaviors in a snapshot. If you do them, stop immediately. If you know others who do them, make them stop immediately.

Drivers do many things wrong:

• Drivers: Do not try to run down pedestrians in crosswalks. [Yes, it happens to me!]
• Drivers: Do not use a cell phone while you are driving.
• Drivers: Do not drive aggressively (Speeding, Excessive lane changing, Improper passing, Tailgating).
• Drivers: Do not tailgate. Allow one foot between your car and the one in front of you for every mile you are going. That is, it’s a one-to-one ratio.
• Drivers:  Yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and other drivers.
• Drivers: Do not pass stopped school buses!
• Drivers: Do not switch lanes in the middle of a turn or passing through an intersection.
• Drivers: Always use your turn-signal indicator and do so before you get into the turn lane.
• Drivers: If the driver making a left has the green light, he has the right-of-way. You need to wait to make the right on red.
• Drivers: When the car in front of you is slowing down, you must slow down too. It is not correct to speed up and go around them. Wait your turn!

 People walking also do many things wrong:

·       Pedestrians: Do not always have the right of way. Sometimes you must wait for the car to pass.

·       Pedestrians: Do not cross in the middle of the street. Instead, cross at the street corner or in clearly defined crossing areas.

·       Pedestrians: Do not keep walking into oncoming traffic!

·       Pedestrians: Do not walk behind moving cars (e.g., when the driver is backing out of a parking spot). 

·       Pedestrians: Do not use a cell phone or iPod, etc.  while you are crossing roads.

·       Pedestrians: Do not cross if the traffic light sign warns you Not too.

 

 

 

 

References:

  1) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2011/05/alert-drivers-using-hand-held-devices.html

  2) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2011/05/alert-parking-lot-safety-managed-right.html

  3) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2011/06/maryland-driving-tips.html

  4) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2011/07/gaithersburg-olde-towne-traffic.html

  5) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2012/05/maryland-road-designs-why-stupid-people.html

  6) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2012/08/traffic-worsens-as-gaithersburg-narrows.html

  7) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2012/09/life-in-city-september-shock-in-dc.html

  8) http://improvemaryland.blogspot.com/2012/10/maryland-drivers-need-to-learn-to-wait.html

  9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressive_driving