What I wanted to share today was from the standpoint of people wandering around parking lots. I can point to at least 2 times over the holidays that I almost hit someone while driving in a shopping area. One person was not looking at the cars at all because his head was focused on his phone. The other situation was someone dressed completely in black at night.
As drivers, we have a huge responsibility. It is our job to make sure no one is behind us when we back out of a space or nagivate the unregulated 'roads' in big shopping areas. Same is true even backing our of our own driveways. I live between two houses that have little boys who play together. They are usually with one of the parents but I'm especially careful just in case they're not. In fact, I've made the conscious choice to turn off my radio/CD/conversation while backing up wherever I am just to be sure I can hear if someone yells out
I admit to being a little more cautious than most because I had the terrible experience of actually hitting someone when I was 20 years old. An elderly man was standing in the middle of the road at night and although I was not speeding and in the correct lane, I hit him. He died 30 minutes later. Something like that stays with you a long time. Legally I was not at fault, but that didn't change the effect that tragedy had on me....and of course, on that man's family.
We're 13 days into the new year and perhaps some resolutions have gone by the wayside but I hope you might consider these two recommendations for 2014 and beyond: silence everything (and everyone) in the car when you back up (even if you have the back up camera) and stay off your technology when you are walking through parking lots. Both take little effort but are so worth the time it takes to do them. Be safe out there!
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