A quick look at a text, or worse, a not-so-quick answer to one and hundreds of feet are traveled in a car, even at in-town speeds. Out on the highway, extraordinary distances can go by. What happens during those blindly traveled bits of driving are dangerous mysteries.
If you have noticed over the last several years, there have been more fatal accidents where the skies were clear and pavement was dry, and yet, someone lost control of their vehicle and rolled it or hit a tree and that spelled doom. The police report doesn’t say the driver was occupied with their phone, but something distracted them in a way that drivers weren’t before, so that ever-present device that buzzes and dings is a likely suspect. And statistics show that there may be as many as 10,000 fatalities each year associated with distracted driving.
The subject came to mind recently when Pine Bluff had a homicide attributed to a pedestrian death. A woman was presumably walking in the 3300 block of Hazel Street and was killed. Her body was found the next morning, and all the police could say at that point is that she was struck by a vehicle sometime during the night. All that was left were skid marks here and there, a purse, some packages. No one was arrested and we can only presume that the investigation continues.
Perhaps the person driving was high on drugs or inebriated and has no clue they even hit someone. Perhaps they were not in those conditions but became distracted, not paying much attention to the road because no one is out at 2 a.m., right? Not that those are the only possibilities, but there was a breakdown somehow or way.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
As drivers, we know that danger can be lurking at any moment and anywhere. It doesn’t necessarily happen when it’s pouring rain and it’s hard to see and 110 percent of your attention is on the road and you’re trying to get home. But when eyes leave the roadway, for whatever reason, and those hundreds of feet roll by unnoticed, well, no telling what can happen.
If the city had more street lights and sidewalks, these issues would be less serious. But as it stands, there’s a 50-year-old woman who lost her life to someone who, for whatever reason, likely wasn’t paying attention, not enough attention, anyway, and there is also likely someone driving around with a guilty conscience. And if you think well, accidents happen and that’s the end of it, you would be wrong; the police are treating the woman’s death as a homicide. So if a person is every found out, there could be legal consequences.
A driving instructor once said that a driver’s No. 1 defense in staying safe is never taking one’s eyes off the road. It was true when he said it decades ago, way before there were so many distractions, and it’s true today.