THe Undisputed's Lovely Experience

[Daniel_Bingamon]

I made it last year. - It just proves that I don't throw anything away.

[Flyingcursor]

I made it last year. - It just proves that I don't throw anything away.

Does the key of the whistle determine the color of the flame?



Dale,

Cool prayer. I like to read those kind of things. It reminds me where the roots of my faith in Christ originate. Helps to keep the perspective that He wasn't a white anglo-saxon protestent from midwest USA.

[Wombat]

A great experience and a great prayer.

That story resonated with me because, for a variety of reasons, some of them personal, I've been thinking a lot lately about the unnecessary loss of young life, not principally losses on the road but that is one major source. Recently I heard someone say that as many people die on American roads as a result of drunken driving each year as perished in the attacks of September 11. (Even if this is something of an exaggeration it would still be a chilling statistic if it were even remotely close.) The person who made that claim went on to question why there was no 'war on drunken driving' but, whatever he or she intended the moral to be, it is a shocking statistic. Even if there can't really be a 'war' on terror any more than there can be a 'war' on crime or poverty, crime and terror still need to be effectively opposed and hunger needs to be dealt with. It's great to see that there actually are people like Dale willing to deal with road carnage at a grass roots level which is surely where effective change must begin.

I assume that there is no 'war' on road carnage because too many in the community regard the carnage as the price you pay for a free-wheeling life style. I doubt that people consciously think this, more likely they just avoid facing up to it. So it is good that there are people willing to talk about the dangers openly, however reluctant young people are to hear it. I imagine most of us who survived our first few years on the roads recognise with hindsight that we really learnt to drive after we received our licenses and through a very dangerous process of trial and error.

[Dale]

Recently I heard someone say that as many people die on American roads as a result of drunken driving each year as perished in the attacks of September 11. (Even if this is something of an exaggeration it would still be a chilling statistic if it were even remotely close.) .

Oh, I'm afraid the truth is much worse than that.

# The number one cause of death for 15-20 year olds is car collisions.
# In 2002, The National Center for Statistics and Analysis reported that 8,278 adolescents (ages 15-20) were involved in fatal crashes.
# 324,000 teens were injured in collisions in 2002.
# In the United States, 38,252 men, women and children died in automobile crashes in 2003.
# In the United States, 38,252 men, women and children died in automobile crashes in 2003.

Of that latter number, roughly 40% are alcohol related. It's way more than 9/11. Year after year after year.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/finalRepo ... e2=Alcohol

[Flyingcursor]

Recently I heard someone say that as many people die on American roads as a result of drunken driving each year as perished in the attacks of September 11. (Even if this is something of an exaggeration it would still be a chilling statistic if it were even remotely close.) .

Oh, I'm afraid the truth is much worse than that.

# The number one cause of death for 15-20 year olds is car collisions.
# In 2002, The National Center for Statistics and Analysis reported that 8,278 adolescents (ages 15-20) were involved in fatal crashes.
# 324,000 teens were injured in collisions in 2002.
# In the United States, 38,252 men, women and children died in automobile crashes in 2003.
# In the United States, 38,252 men, women and children died in automobile crashes in 2003.

Of that latter number, roughly 40% are alcohol related. It's way more than 9/11. Year after year after year.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/finalRepo ... e2=Alcohol

Yeah. And that's why I get so road raged with tail gaters and people who drive vehicles far beyond their capacity to handle. People who drive gigantic SUV's, trucks and hummers who think they are an excuse to treat other drivers like chaff.
I'll stop here because I can't say anything good about that subject.

[mvhplank]

Recently I heard someone say that as many people die on American roads as a result of drunken driving each year as perished in the attacks of September 11. (Even if this is something of an exaggeration it would still be a chilling statistic if it were even remotely close.) .

Oh, I'm afraid the truth is much worse than that.

# The number one cause of death for 15-20 year olds is car collisions.
# In 2002, The National Center for Statistics and Analysis reported that 8,278 adolescents (ages 15-20) were involved in fatal crashes.
# 324,000 teens were injured in collisions in 2002.
# In the United States, 38,252 men, women and children died in automobile crashes in 2003.
# In the United States, 38,252 men, women and children died in automobile crashes in 2003.

Of that latter number, roughly 40% are alcohol related. It's way more than 9/11. Year after year after year.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/finalRepo ... e2=Alcohol

I was reminded immediately of a horrible accident in our area over the summer. One driver, age 18, was recently charged (see http://ydr.com/story/local/49002/). The unnamed driver of the pickup occasionally works for me and was d*mned lucky to walk away, but was pretty shaken for several weeks.

As an adjunct, I think there should be a mandatory assembly in school every year to explain how to be courteous when attending the wake or funeral of a classmate. The family shouldn't have to fight their way into a funeral home, and they shouldn't be subjected to crowds of wailing (or simply curious) teens during the worst moments of their lives.

Thanks, Dale. I had shared your web site with my acupuncturist, whose older son will soon be driving. As it happens, she's also Jewish, so I'd like to share your story with her too.

Drive carefully, friends!
M