Driving to distraction

Monique McTiernan-Black’s recent Letter to the Editor in the Times & Transcript is yet another reminder of how dangerous and potentially fatal texting while driving can be. Had Ms. McTiernan-Black,  out on a run, not been paying attention for both herself AND the young woman texting while driving,  there could have been the distinct possibility of the death of one, and a lengthy prison sentence for the other. Definitely something for the driver of that lethal weapon to think about. 

  A car, a motorcycle, all-terrain vehicles or a snowmobile can be and often are weapons of death. If the person operating such a ‘destroyer of lives in a split second’ is caught not exercising appropriate care and control as required by the law, then he should have his license revoked for a term no less than one year. Full stop! 

The time has come for the courts to stop devoting so much time issuing slap on the wrist sentences and fines that clearly are not sufficient deterrents. The system of law, in place to protect all of us, needs to step up the game in a way that is truly attention grabbing and behaviour changing — heftier fines and longer ‘time out’ periods from driving. Accountability is the responsibility of each and every one of us.

I’ve been the victim of individuals who’ve been distracted  — texting while walking. In such cases, being a student of human nature, I take those opportunities to educate and enlighten. My favourite MO occurs most often in malls, as I travel in my wheelchair down the center corridors, checking out shop windows. I’ll see a person approaching, ear glued to phone, oblivious to an impending collision. But I’m ready! I know full well what happens next. I slow down and wait. True to form, the ‘gotta make the call right this minute’ guy keeps coming, looking straight ahead, but clearly not seeing me at all. Then it happens! Wham! There’s a body in my lap! I caught a live one! I’m never hurt at all during these little tests of reaction times. But the phone chatter is clearly embarassed as everyone around us saw what HE did to poor little me! 

The call ends as he peels himself off my lap. We have a brief conversation as I ask him to picture himself in a car doing what he was doing at that moment he ran into me. Finally! That lightbulb moment when the message of the lesson gets his attention. Had he been in a car, texting while driving or chatting while driving, he could have killed a Mom pushing a baby in a stroller, while her two older children waited at home; he could have killed a 3 children on their way to school on bright, sunny day; he could have killed a guy who was returning home with gift bags in hand after becoming a first time grandfather earlier that day. There’s no do-over for any of those catastrophic events. Ever!

Another tactic I use to educate is to be casually rolling along in my little red racer, sensing then confirming there’s a person close behind me; invariably, they’re glued to a cellphone. I slow to a crawl, but still moving forward. Bam! I get rear-ended by an uprightly mobile 20 something, wearing short shorts with legs up to there, long, blond hair, shiny with health. She’s smiling and chatting, fully engaged in conversation with the person on the other side of her phone connection. A boyfriend? A girlfriend, as they make plans for the weekend? 

She falls directly into my chair as she bumps into my back. Thankfully, my long flowing hair is wound up in a bun or it would have been soundly pulled as she reached out her hands to save herself. So, I was rear-ended by one of the ‘pretty people’ in full view of passersby. She was more than a little embarassed.  Yes, my friends, both these events occurred and are not products of my writer’s imagination.

After a bit of light conversation, I asked about texting while driving — she was all apologetic and informed me that she’d never do that. I wondered! As she walked away, I noted that the cellphone was once again at her ear and she casually sauntered along the mall corridor with not a care in the world. 

How many people in New Brunswick have been killed because of driving while texting? How many were the drivers? How many were their victims? Innocent parties to their vanity and thoughtlessness? In how many  such accidents of texting/chatting while drivingwere both the driver and others killed? How many survived but will spend the rest of their lives as paraplegics? As respirator quadriplegics? As single limb amputees? As double limb amputees? Permanently living with a traumatic brain injury?

Will someone near and dear to you be the next victim of death or permanent injury by distracted driver? Will you?

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

ER wait times -- condition critical

“Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food.” [Amatellah]

‘ER wait times in New Brunswick hit breaking point,’ reads the headline of the July 5th edition of The Telegraph Journal. 

Patients who have experienced waits of 4-5 or more hours on previous visits are now offered the option of taking an appointment to be seen in another facility should they feel they need ER care. Non-urgent cases will still have to wait, perhaps several hours. Knowing that, patients may start doing something truly remarkable. They may begin assessing whether they REALLY need to go to the ER at all, let alone sit there for 5 hours only to be seen and told they have indigestion or a slight cold that requires nothing more than fluids and rest. How often has that happened? Really?

Every day someone, from the very young to the very old, compromises his body through often repeated behaviour that affects quality life with little regard to consequences until critical mass is reached — rather like the condition plaguing our health care system.

We have all the latest and greatest modern technology so why can’t we get seen in a timely fashion? After all, what are we paying for? Why aren’t the doctors paying attention to us? Why are the folks in the ER admitting station running around, not seeming to be doing much of anything, other than running around?

That, my friend, is the impression held by those who don’t think about how their own behaviour affects their health, and very often the health of the system in place to assist - the ER! Thousands of people are afflicted with the ‘dis’ease called ‘head in the sand syndrome’. In their sometimes, or dare I say, frequent misguided logic, they’re going to the ER because they believe they’re really sick, sort of sick, a little sick, or that cut on their left finger, or a rash on their right knee requires emergency treatment. Little thought is given to the distinct possibility that it is through their own behaviour that they find themselves in distress. There seems to be little or no personal accountability, and with that is another reality. Everybody, and I do mean EVERY body pays for what you, and you and you are doing to YOUR body.

What’s the solution, you ask? The answers are closer to home than you think and if you stayed home and really thought about what you may have done that contributed  to that sick feeling, the cut on your left finger, or the rash on your right knee, you realise that the cure for any one of those ailments is as close as your kitchen cupboard or your medicine cabinet. 

I’m not going to go on ad nauseum about the garbage in, garbage out philosophy. Most of    us are able to grasp that concept and once we realise we may be the cause of quite a few of our own troubles, we will make effort to self-correct, self-regulate. Some need a bit more prodding because they’ve become accustomed to having their errors and omissions dealt with by someone else - and so is born what I like to call the ‘professional patient’.

As a cardiac patient, I will never discount chest pain of any kind, especially if it’s accompanied by sweats, jaw pain, and/or lower to mid back pain. If you have a history of cardiac issues, then you’d already know what to do. Calling ahead, in advance of an ER visit, to consult with a nurse might allow you to decide whether to wait it out or to actually go in. Chewing on a couple of aspirins and having a bit of wine has long been acknowledged as being helpful if one is in the throes of a cardiac event. Consulting with your physician to establish an ‘if this happens’ protocol is always helpful. That action alone may reduce the need to prematurely rush off to the ER. Note, though, that alcohol consumption post-cardiac event is something that must be discussed with your physician as alcohol may interfere with certain drugs taken to treat the healing heart. Let common sense be your guide. There’s that personal accountability thing again.

As well, and to conclude today’s life lesson, paying attention to how you fuel your body so that it efficiently performs, goes a long way to reducing ER visits. The same is also true with your family members. Very early on, if parents educate their children to focus on eating to live, the frequency with which they catch colds or suffer headaches, or stomach pains, joint pains, and muscle pains diminishes. Good habits at home reduces the tax on the health care system, making it more accessible to more people with you and yours as part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem. Sounds like a good idea to me. What say you?

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca