This week, The Observer brought you a story about a young girl who was hit by a car. We’re told it was sun glare that contributed to the incident — and heaven knows wintertime sun glare can be debilitating, especially when there’s snow on the ground.
But this incident was more than just about a young child who was very fortunate not to lose her life. It served as another reminder about the way people drive around here — and the risk everyone takes every single time they get behind the wheel of a car.
Quite frankly, it’s a situation that is out of control.
For whatever the reason, people seem to be incapable of putting that phone down even for short rides. Whether it’s because of a phone call or, worse, texting, everywhere you look, people behind the wheel seem to be more concerned with their Smartphones than they are, oh, paying attention to the road!
Quite frankly, we’re fed up with seeing distracted drivers on the road. And you should be, too.
The next time you’re walking around, have a look for yourself if you haven’t. Take note of the number of people who are actually driving and paying attention to the road.
Then take note to the number of drivers who are either talking on the phone — you should be able to hear them since so many calls are projected through car speakers — and who are looking down, around, anywhere but the road.
We’d be shocked if the majority of people you see driving are doing so without distracted. Let is serve as notice that you shouldn’t do the very same.
And also let it serve as notice that that poor child, injured because of sun glare, could be your child one day — and perhaps it will be because of a distracted driver who was too focused on what to pick up for dinner instead of being concerned for the safety of the drivers and pedestrians around them.
Enough is enough already.
Please, folks, we plead with you — don’t drive in a distracted manner ever again. Stop doing it now, before it’s simply too late.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.