It has long been my experience that I never really know where the idea for my next column will come from. In this month's case, it came a little too close to home.
The first week of August found me at the 100th Anniversary Convention of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman's Association (CVVFA). Although I am from New Jersey, I have been most fortunate. I have joined together with a great many fine people from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Delaware in a very old and distinguished organization. We came together on August 2, 3, and 4 to celebrate 100 years of dedicated fire and emergency services to the citizens of the Cumberland Valley area.
It is the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Fireman's Association that stepped up to the plate to provide the support and guidance for our Respondersafety.com website. This organization was formed to serve the Cumberland Valley area. The original purposes for the founding of this group were to foster fire prevention efforts, create an organized mutual aid effort, and advance the cause of a common hose thread for the region.
During our recent convention in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, site of the organization's founding in 1901, it was my privilege to report on the status of the Respondersafety.com website. Steve Austin and I reported on our kick off of the site in Chicago. We spoke of our continuing efforts to gather information on highway-related accidents, incidents, and fatalities.
Steve and I spoke of our upcoming efforts to create a new contact form on our website that will allow you to report highway accidents and incidents directly to me at my office. It is our hope to get the quickest possible turnaround time on finding and releasing information through our website.
At the end of our presentation, one of our own CVVFA Directors stood to tell us of a close call that he had back in May of this year. Here was one of our very own telling us that he almost died as a result of the careless actions of an inattentive motorist.
Larry Smallwood, a Virginia Regional Director for CVVFA told of a real close call that he at out on Route 50 west of Winchester, VA. It occurred on May 24, 2001 at about 1800 hr. And it could have cost him his life.
On his way home that evening, he happened upon a serious motor vehicle on Route 50 in his response district. As a member of the local fire police organization, he stopped to assist local authorities at the scene of the MVA on a four-lane section of that busy highway. Larry parked his vehicle off of the highway in official-use u-turn area. He activated all of the emergency warning lights that were installed on his personal vehicle. He set up a series of flares in order to establish a traffic control point.
Owing to the fact that he was sitting in the middle of a divided highway turnaround, he felt that his car was in a safe position. He was in the process of returning to his car to get some more warning flares, when he was confronted with an immediate threat to his life, health, and safety.
All of a sudden he heard the screeching of tires behind him. As he turned to see what the source of that noise was, he saw a vehicle racing toward him across the grassy median. As he leaped out of the way, a sport utility vehicle missed him by inches and slammed into the rear of his personal vehicle, driving it forward for quite a distance. Although he was unharmed, he was scared within an inch of his life.
The cause of this accident involved a situation commonly encountered by all of us these days. It seems that the man driving the SUV was talking on his cellular phone and paying absolutely no attention to what he was doing. He lost control and veered to the left. He departed the highway, and plunged down into the drainage ditch in the center of the road, his tires screaming to regain firm footing.
As this driver attempted to regain control of his vehicle, he came roaring up out of the ditch and skidded back toward the highway. In doing so, he just barely missed Mr. Smallwood and rammed into his car.
The State Police who were already on the scene came over to check out Mr. Smallwood. Thankfully, he was unhurt. But his car was not so fortunate. It sustained a great deal of damage.
The State Police cited the SUV driver for a number of traffic violations. This person was cited for reckless driving, having no registration in his possession, and failure to have an insurance card.
Now by this point you may be thinking that this fellow was made to pay for his driving sins by the justice system of the State of Virginia. After all, hadn't he just missed killing a dedicated volunteer firefighter? Surely he was made to pay, wasn't he?
I am here to tell you that such was not the case. The judge in this case downgraded the main charge of reckless driving to a far less serious charge of improper driving. And both of the other charges were dropped. This individual was made to pay only a small fine and court costs.
What in the world was that judge thinking of? A slap on the wrist meted out for a potential case of manslaughter, or maybe a case of death-by-auto. This could have been the story of a dedicated volunteer who paid the supreme sacrifice for the stupidity of a passing motorist. Talking on a cell phone of all things.
This is a sad tale that is played out far too many times during any given year. It is stories like this, and others where the outcome was not as fortunate, which led to the creation of Respondersafety.com.
Larry Smallwood could have been one more statistic in the world of danger of the highways of America. Fortunately he was not. We need to do all that lies within our power to educate our people to perform their duties in a safer manner. We also need to create educational programs for the public that will raise an aware in them of who we are and what we do. This is an important mission. Please join with us to make the highways of America safer.