Car accident in 1963 where she ran a stop sign, and the driver of another car going through the intersection was killed. This and more in former first lady Laura Bush's new book, "Spoken from the Heart." It's now in the news.
Makes me think of the horror stories hidden in so many people's lives about auto accidents. Some folks famous and powerful, others ordinary. So many have been traumatized that I think Americans would be too shell shocked to drive, but this isn't the case. People go right on driving, for the most part.
Roads have gotten safer over the years, I hear the highway death toll in US is down to a bit over 30,000 per year when it was closer to 40,000 several years back. News reports even come out saying it's the lowest it's been since 1954; co-incidence, the year I was born.
Safer roads, better drunk driving enforcement and safer cars have helped, but the carnage is still too high. Back in the 50s and 60s, seat belts weren't as common, but now we have distracted driving from cellphones and the like.
If this many people kept dying in workplace accidents, or terrorist attacks, imagine how outraged the nation would be. Car accidents are still a silent slaughter.
I just think people and society would be more traumatized by this. So traumatized that folks would be afraid to drive and there would be more planning around alternative transportation.
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