Monday, July 21, 2014
Good morning,
My husband Randy and I enjoy spending time outdoors and getting some exercise on the weekends. When we are not golfing, we love to go for a long bike ride. Lately when we venture out on our rides, I have noticed nobody is paying attention to what they are doing. We have about a 3-mile ride from our house that takes us to a trail. The 3 miles to the trail is all sidewalk, but crosses many neighborhood side streets, and goes through some major street lights and shopping center entryways. Most drivers hardly stop at stop signs or entryways, and rarely look both ways to see what or who is coming; and I’m very aware of this because I slow down as I come to these intersections, even when I have the right of way. This is because most drivers are on the phone, texting, or simply not paying attention to what they are doing and never see me.
To be fair, other bikers aren’t always the safest riders either. I have seen them talking on their phones while riding. Yes really! And the pull out in front of traffic to try and beat a light, and whizz by casual riders of families and kids enjoying an afternoon, acting like they own the road. Someone on roller blades nearly hit me head-on because they didn’t hear me when I was trying to get their attention as they were all over the trail while talking on the phone as they were headed straight towards me. I was forced to go on the grass and it wasn’t till the last second they looked up and panicked as they saw me.
Seriously, what is so important that we all can’t slow down, stop, look and listen to what is going on around us without putting our phones away to enjoy life for a while? Let’s all go back to our roots when our moms told us to look to the left, right and left again before crossing the street.
It’s time to do that again, whether we are in a car, on a bike, out for a run or on roller blades. Oh, and leave the cell phones in your pocket for emergencies. It might just allow you to enjoy a day out and stop and smell the roses.