Runners and cyclists alike face numerous daily challenges out on the roads and byways of East Tennessee. One challenge common to both runners and cyclists is that we are all significantly outweighed by automobiles. Even tiny Daewoos and ancient Yugos are bigger than us by a ton or so, nevermind the massive and abundant Escalades and Hummers.
Being on the smaller end of the human spectrum, I’ve been aware for a long time that when something bigger than me collides with my body, I usually take the brunt of the collision. As a very undersized wide receiver in football, or a puny point guard in hoops, I regularly got blasted by big guys; It didn’t take a behemoth to deal me a mighty blow. Typically I survived with only bruises and bumps, in addition to various wounds to the psyche, but I did take a bit of a beating.
In a collision with a motor vehicle, however, the word “brunt” is escalated to the nth degree. Seldom does a human survive unexpected contact with a car without undergoing severe changes to its body, usually of a crushing and lacerating quality. Sometimes the human on foot or bike does not survive.
This is clearly an unacceptable alternative. It goes without saying that we must take all possible precautions. No, wait. It doesn’t go without saying. I just said it and will repeat it for the slow learners and those of you on drugs. First: Get out of the way. Second: Insist on your right to the road. Sure, you could be right – dead right. I saw a dude the other day flying down the middle of Kingston Pike on a road bike at probably 30 mph. A skilled cyclist, to be sure, but all it would take is one false move on his part and he was toast.
No way, he would insist; he’s too good a rider to make that one false move. And for the sake of argument, I’ll grant him his insular self-aggrandization. But the false move doesn’t have to be made by the rider or the runner. The bad move can, and often is, made by the driver of the car.
Part of the problem is that the authorities do not require a licensed driver to take a skills test to renew his privilege to drive. This means that people who gets a license at 16 and continues to drive until age 80 has sixty-four years to learn bad habits. And, man, do they! I’m developing a deathly fear of elderly drivers in Buicks.
I just got done filling a page in another publication ranting and raving about the proliferation of drivers who are so self-important that they deem it unnecessary to obey even the most basic of driving laws: stopping at red lights. One out of every four drivers, by my rough estimation, runs yellow and/or red lights. And it’s getting worse, not better. I sincerely hope that the new traffic monitoring cameras installed recently by the city of Knoxville have a deterring effect on this worsening social sickness.
And how about cell phones? Recent research has shown that a driver involved in a conversation on a cell phone displays distracted driving skills comparable to a driver who is legally intoxicated. Think about it: equivalent to a drunk or stoned driver.
Handsfree units, which I previously believed to help significantly, did not prove so in this research. It is the preoccupation with the conversation that proves the danger. And I suspect the vast, vast majority of cell phone conversations that take place behind the wheel are of the “Yeah, I’m getting my hair done tonight before going out to dinner,” rather than the “My little boy is sick and I’m taking him to the hospital” variety.
Other research shows that most non-driving activities engaged in while driving are similarly, if not quite so engrossingly, dangerous. Those include eating, smoking, changing CD’s in the audio player, drinking (even Coke or bottled water!), and the unavoidable yet inevitable distractions posed by children of all ages.
How many times have we all endured the frightening experience of seeing a car weaving toward us, driver totally oblivious to us, preoccupied by the cell phone stuffed up one ear, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and who knows what else drawing his attention away from the sole issue upon which his concentration should be focused: driving the damn car.
So as we all continue to run and ride our way through East Tennessee this winter and on into spring, let’s forget for a moment how wrong those inconsiderate and self-consumed drivers are and how much right we have to enjoy our chosen activities. Instead, let’s just vow to stay alive and stay healthy. With a confidently cautious frame of mind and trained and alert bodies we can do our best to avoid becoming another statistic, and instead become the best we can be, performing to the best of our abilities, living our lives to the fullest. Watch out for the other guy. Cause he ain’t watching out for you.
