TEXTING: Play it safe, drivers

Thank you, Sholeh Patrick for the topic of your May 7 column, “Text and drive?” I have worked my entire adult life in emergency services, about 50 years, recently retiring from my last fire department after 38 years. Distracted driving is right up there today with substance-impaired driving. The tragedy and sorrow that results from such carelessness is difficult to convey to people who have not seen it firsthand. Whether the cause of the “accident” or the victim, many people will be affected. Please do not fall into denial syndrome — “It can’t happen to me.” Bad things happen to people every day, and most could have been avoided.

Look at every family member in your household, and imagine that you answer that knock at the door and the police officer is there to tell you that your loved one isn’t ever coming home again because an impaired or inattentive driver just had to drive carelessly. Now imagine someone else getting that knock at their door and YOU are the careless driver who has done this to another innocent. Almost every day in America someone is in these shoes. Don’t be that person. Drive defensively and carefully and report to police those who do not. Stay safe out there.

ROBERT SMITH

Post Falls