We all hear the warnings.
Wear your seatbelt. Wear a helmet. Wear a life preserver. Don’t mix alcohol and boating. Stop when the schoolbus red lights flash. Don’t try to beat trains when the gates are coming down.
It can be a little wearing, particularly if you’re one who likes the thrills of the outdoors. But it’s also easy to take chances, particularly if you’re young and optimistic.
Unfortunately, some of us have to be reminded to be careful. And we’ve had two grim reminders in the last month as we’ve seen three people die in accidents in the hills around Sweet Home.
Two were not wearing seatbelts as they sat in the back of a pickup truck. One wasn’t wearing a helmet.
Whether or not taking the legal (or strongly recommended) precautions would have made a difference in the two recent cases is not clear, since one involved a rollover and the other a fall down a steep embankment.
Still, you have to think that being buckled in or having a hard shell protecting one’s head would probably have helped. Generally, it does.
Sure, you give up something by protecting yourself. Anyone who has ridden a motorcycle or ATV without a helmet knows how exhilarating it can be. It’s almost as fun being a kid and riding in the back of a pickup. Or riding on the side of a boat that’s skimming over the water. Or making it through the gates before a slow freight train stops you in your tire tracks for five minutes.
But no matter how quick and athletic we are, or how much we love thrills, we’re reminded in the solemn reflection on the passing of these fellow citizens that we’re not invincible.
Whether or not the law forces you to, play it safe this summer.
To quote many mothers: “Have fun and don’t hurt yourself.”