Another senseless incident

[bmccasland]

Whatever happened with the thought of just DRIVING a car? You know, 3000pounds of steel with a motor attached? If you need to know where you're going, pull over and look at a map (paper or electronic). Need to use the phone, your car is NOT a phone booth. I could go on... We have taken multi-tasking to a whole new level, but when one of those tasks could actually kill someone, maybe we should concentrate on it.

This sort of thing makes me think twice about things I do while I'm behind the wheel, and do I REALLY need to be doing that, or driving the beast?

[Pax]

Whatever happened with the thought of just DRIVING a car? You know, 3000pounds of steel with a motor attached? If you need to know where you're going, pull over and look at a map (paper or electronic). Need to use the phone, your car is NOT a phone booth. I could go on... We have taken multi-tasking to a whole new level, but when one of those tasks could actually kill someone, maybe we should concentrate on it.

This sort of thing makes me think twice about things I do while I'm behind the wheel, and do I REALLY need to be doing that, or driving the beast?

I've been thinking about that as well. It seems as though driving (actually piloting the vehicle) has become the secondary or even tertiary activity. I'm a big fan of govt. staying out of our lives/decisions but I'm thinking it's time to have some new rules to put the emphasis back on the task of driving.

[Pax]

Here is an update on the cyclist who was hit:

Blood drive planned for injured cyclist

BY TIMOTHY O'HARA

Citizen Staff

A Key West bicyclist who was critically injured last week when a truck hit her on U.S. 1 continues to improve and doctors appeared to have stopped the internal bleeding, her husband said Thursday.

Stephanie Walters, who suffered multiple broken bones throughout her body and remains in an induced coma, is in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit at Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.

There will be a blood drive for her from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Key West Yacht Club, 2315 N. Roosevelt Blvd. in Key West.

Doctors have begun to reduce the paralytic medications that induced the coma and curb her reliance on the respirator.

"They have not started repairing anything yet," Karl Walters said. "She will be there many, many months."

Karl Walters leased a Miami apartment for three months to be closer to his wife during her recovery, and has the option of extending it if necessary, he said.

The 51-year-old's recovery may be aided by the fact that she was in excellent physical condition, as she biked 30 miles a week and was working out with a personal trainer, her husband said.

Walters was working as a school nurse at Glynn Archer Elementary School and is a former director of the Monroe County Health Department.

She and her husband were making their weekly bike ride to Baby's Coffee on the morning of April 20 when a truck driver veered off the road at the north end of the Boca Chica Channel Bridge, hitting her and grazing her husband's back with the side mirror. Karl Walters said he turned around to see his wife "flying through the air."

Donald Johnson, 54, of Key West, was adjusting his GPS direction finder when he hit her, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Johnson was cited with failure to drive within a single lane, the report states.

Karl Walters has filed a lawsuit against Johnson and his insurance company, claiming he was negligent in his operation of the Ford pickup truck when he "decided to operate the ... vehicle's GPS system while driving at the same time." It also claims negligence for Johnson's failure to keep an adequate lookout and failing to keep the vehicle in a single lane.