We can use the safety misfortunes of others to protect ourselves and learn from their mistakes. Let's take a look at some common sense safety knowledge and some true-life examples of what can happen when they are ignored.
Behind the Wheel
- When driving a vehicle, you need to give it your full attention.
January 2008 – A man goes to court this month for killing a woman and seriously injuring her young son. The Quebec man crashed head-on into the car carrying the two victims and speed was a factor. The man thought he was going 100km/h but his odometer was in miles; he was travelling at 160 km/h when he lost control.
- Winter driving requires even greater concentration.
January 2008 – Highway 8 in New Brunswick was covered with snow on a Saturday morning, making it difficult to see where the lanes were. A school van hit the shoulder of the road before spinning into the path of a truck travelling in the oncoming lane of traffic. Seven students and a teacher were killed.
- Keep your car equipped for survival during cold months.
January 2008 – A Moose Jaw man and three boys ranging from five to nine years of age spent the night in a minivan when the vehicle got stuck in a snowdrift. They were driving home from a hockey tournament in a neighbouring town and took a grid road home. When the sun rose, the man walked six kilometres to a farm for help.
- Carjacking doesn’t just happen in the movies.
June 2007 – While travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway in south-eastern Ontario, a man was shot in the stomach during a carjacking. Police found him on the side of the highway. The man is expected to make a full recovery. In Winnipeg in October 2007, two teenage girls posed as police officers to carjack a pickup truck. They tied the victim’s hands and raided his pockets before taking off in the truck.
- Do not leave children unattended in a vehicle.
January 2008 – On a blustery -20 C day in Calgary, a mother left her one-year-old twins locked in her car when she ran an older child into a doctor’s appointment. She returned 45 minutes later to find her vehicle surrounded by emergency personnel. The children were taken to hospital and are expected to make a full recovery from their frigid nightmare. A two-year-old Calgary girl wasn’t as fortunate in February 2007. Her mother left the girl and her older brother in a running Chevrolet Blazer while she ran an errand. The girl activated the power window button with her knee as she looked outside and her head got lodged in the window. She was later pronounced dead.
Cycling on the Road
- Obey rules of the road when cycling.
September 2007 – At 6:30 a.m., a man in Grande Prairie, Alberta, was riding his bicycle against oncoming traffic, a big no-no as you should go with the flow. To make matters worse, he was dressed in all black. He was hit by an oncoming vehicle and spent a week in the hospital.
Railway Crossing Safety
- Railway crossings should be crossed with care.
January 2008 – A man was killed in Magog, Quebec, when the front wheels of his motorized tricycle became caught in the tracks. A passerby tried unsuccessfully to pull the rider from the path of the oncoming train. The warning lights were functional at the crossing and the train honked several times before the collision. The same day a car was struck by a train near Miramichi, New Brunswick, killing a young father and seriously injuring a two-year-old boy. The car appears to have been stopped on the tracks when it was struck by the train. Investigations have been launched into both incidents.
Learn from the errors of other people to keep yourself safe.
Toby Welch - Toby is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in magazine articles, online writing, e-books, and manuscript editing.
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