Who will perish in Berks
next?
By
Jeffrey Fazio
DriveTime Columnist
The
population of Berks County is nearly 400,000. Imagine for a moment
that it was possible for all of us to sit in the stands at
the Sovereign Center. Resting in the middle of the room are rows of
guns. Let's say there was exactly one gun for each of us, but only
79 of the guns were loaded. What if we were all expected to pick
up just one gun, point it at ourselves and pull the trigger?
Would
you have a problem doing that? The chances are only 79 in
400,000 that things would go badly.
What
if we took the 400,000 residents of Berks to the top floor of the
County Services Center and there was exactly one elevator for each of
us to get back down, but 79 of the elevators had no cables to
control the fall? Would you hesitate getting in your elevator?
These
scenarios sound like twisted variations of Shirley Jackson's short
story "The Lottery," but with the bonus of 78 more
"winners." Surely none of us (I hope) would want to
participate in such a morbid game of chance, but the fact is most of
us do just that every day. We roll the proverbial dice every time we
interact with our streets and highways.
In
the situations I described, the number of fated was set 79.
That was no coincidence. 79 lives were lost on Berks County
roadways last year. 79 -- that sounds like a lot to me. Maybe
it is not a huge number. It is, after all, less than two-thousandths
of 1 percent of our population, but how many other lives were forever
changed by these deaths? How many people were seriously injured in
accidents, but did not perish?
79
deaths is almost one death every five days. If the average held
out, that would indicate at least one fatal accident every
week in our county. Again, that seems like a lot to me.
Last
year I followed the growing statistics of the traffic-death toll as
reported by Keith Mayer in the Reading Eagle and his blog on
www.readingeagle.com. He indicated that 2005 tied the record for the
most fatalities in Berks County. I sure hope that is not an indication
of what is to come. With barely three weeks into the new year, we
already had three traffic deaths recorded as of Jan. 20. If that pace
keeps up, we could be looking at a bit more than 52 for this year.
Mayer's
statistics frequently seep into my thoughts as I endure my 45-minute
commute to and from work each day. In fact, last year I passed by a
rather disturbing one-car accident one particularly stormy day and
found out later that the driver had perished. It really hit home for
me when I read the news the next day and I realized I drove by someone
who was no longer with us.
In
the last 60 years, the lowest number of fatal accidents in a given
year in Berks was 36 in 1960. Considering we have lost three people
already this year and that it is not probable that this year will set
a new record low, it seems that at least 33 more people will
not see 2007. Statistics, and reality, can really be creepy at times.
Now
when I drive around Berks, I find myself looking around at the other
drivers and wondering who will be next. Who will perish? Will it be
the woman in the white Chrysler 300M, chatting on her cell phone, who
went speeding by me the other morning on Route 61? Maybe it will be
the guy in the black Ford pickup truck, who last week pulled out from
Route 419 onto Route 183, right in front of me. He barely gave me
enough time to avoid him. That one was too close -- at least for me.
As
improbable as it is, I hope the new year offers a lot less close calls
(or worse) for all of us. Maybe we can all chip in for a giant
billboard that reads, " ____ days accident free in Berks
County!"
Have
a safe new year, everyone.
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