It started subtly at first, about a year ago, but then grew and grew as time went by and, I could see the inevitable. More and more death, more and more destruction of property that wasn’t intended to be destroyed. More and more futile attempts by law enforcement and traffic courts to stem the crushing tide of mayhem on our roadways. In December 2017 I witnessed eleven collisions in a five-mile radius of my home. On Dec. 25th I checked the traffic conditions before leaving my home and, discovered there were seven collisions in the Nashville area alone that were currently either slowing traffic or diverting it from the scene. Two persons in January '18 described in detail near death collisions that month. Daily I see at least two damaged vehicles (unrepaired) that are evidence of other collisions. As I mention in the book, “The more we can reduce collisions of vehicles the fewer deaths will occur on our roadways, ESPECIALLY AMONGST OUR YOUTH.” I want to confess here that I didn't go directly from observing to researching and writing:factually I got irked by the repetitive foolishness and the knuckleheadness of drivers i witnessed doing odd and dangerous maneuvers, and in some cases took it out on them as a personal affront. But I knew that would not suffice, so then I had what some would call a divine reconciliation.
I wrote then the book The Careless Driver, subtitled The Under-trained Driver, as it says on the back cover: “I have great hopes that the information in this book, and the non-accusative manner in which it is delivered will find a large audience with parents, driver training school owners and instructors, traffic court judges and DMVs, as well as the general driving population of America. (Possibly not with auto insurance companies.) More and better driver training should ensue with noticeable reduction of fatalities, especially among our youth.
This morning (8 March ’18) I drove down 2nd Avenue at a modest 30 mph towards the heart of Nashville for an appointment at 9:00 A.M. This is the RUSH HOUR, until 10:00 A.M or 10:30.
A 4-door sedan darted across my path from behind a tractor-trailer waiting to turn West on Lea Street as I was nearing Lea Street. The 4-door vehicle darted out from my left and crossed three lanes of traffic at speed. It didn’t clear all three lanes. I hit, after braking sharply, the side of the vehicle at approximately 15 mph in the third lane. Enough to put a large area of impact, and enough to smash the entire front end of my vehicle. Now, I’ll repeat again, the title of the book is THE CARELESS DRIVER. Why did the young construction worker decide that he could drive his vehicle across three lanes of rush-hour traffic from behind a blind created at the Stop sign by the presence of a tractor-traile