Stop, Look and Live

This muse is all about safety.  You may asked, what I know about safety.  What I know about safety is not the point of this article, what you and your family need to know is the point. Since you insist on knowing, I do have a background in safety from previous employment.  I managed a 500,000 square foot distribution center that was the first in the company history to go three years without a time lost injury.  The last couple years with this company I traveled between all the centers consulting on safety, security, production and other topics assigned by my VP.

            All the travel during those years allowed me to rack up some frequent flyer miles which is now allowing my wife and I to fly to North Carolina for free. What’s better than free?  I will tell you, “it is free and first class flights”.

            During my “infrequent” trips to stores like Wal-Mart or HEB I have observed many of the patrons and their habits both inside and outside the store. People watching may be a byproduct of all the time spent in air ports waiting on flights.  While in the airport there is not a lot to do other than drink Star Bucks coffee and watch people walk by. It is reported that one hour in a busy airport will allow you to see an average of 857 people. If you have an inquisitive mind (I do) and if you are the least bit observant (I am) you will see things that tell you all lot about people you don’t know.  

            My Stop, Look and Live title is actually about people walking in parking lots or on streets with pedestrian cross walks.  The pedestrian cross walks are a good idea as they help funnel many pedestrians into a smaller, better controlled walking area.  They could also be a safety concern when people walk onto the cross walk expecting the drivers to stop. If you take 5 minutes to observe these pedestrians you will notice that 71% never look to see if there is a car coming. (The 71% that do not look both ways for vehicles are frequent shoppers and have developed a habit of expecting all vehicles to stop.)  The person the looks both ways at these cross walks are not frequent shoppers and very likely do not want to be there anyway (I may be speaking for myself with that comment).

            Consider; an elderly person that has very slow reflexes is driving toward the cross walk and sees several pedestrians. This elderly person puts their foot on the gas instead of the break and drives through the pedestrians. 

Consider; the person that smokes, as he/she approaches the cross walks if he/she drop the cigarette in their lap and begin to hurriedly look for the lit cigarette they will not be looking at the pedestrians in the cross walk.

Consider; the guy approaching the cross walk whose focus is through the passenger window of his pickup truck at the one young, good looking lady in skinny jeans as she walks to her car.

If these people would have just looked for oncoming traffic they may have been able to stay out of the way of that driver.

Please, repeatedly remind you family members and friends who use cross walks to “Stop Look and Live”.

       From the never ending thoughts of  “ Don Ford “,          Thanks.

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