September 21, 2012
Dear Everyone:
We have a great many meetings here at work.
They frequently involve people in a wide variety of geographic
locations: “Pleasanton”,
“Pleasant Hill”, “Hobby”, “Canterbury”, “Quezon City”.
One thing all of these meetings have in common is something
called “The Safety Moment.”
This is supposed to be a short discussion
revolving, in some way, around the subject of Safety.
Whoever is “leading” the Meeting asks if “anyone” has a “Safety
Moment” to share with the rest of the group.
If no one volunteers, it’s up to the Meeting Leader to provide
one. All meetings must begin
with a “Safety Moment”.
When all else fails, you can always spark a
discussion around safe driving.
Needless to say, we are, all of us, Perfect Drivers.
Yet somehow, there are a plethora of Less-Than-Perfect Drivers
out there on The Road. One
wonders where they all come from.
Do the Aliens “salt” the freeways and byways with unsafe Drivers?
If so, why?
So, “Safe Driving” is always a good “Safety
Moment”.
The Company actually does provide, even insist
upon, Safe Driving “classes” for all employees.
(As a “Contractor”, I’ve managed to avoid these, so far.)
I’ve gone through many of them and distilled all of the
helpful/useful “suggestions” into a short list of Maxims.
Maxim Number 1:
The world is filled with Stupid People and many of them drive
automobiles. Learn to spot
Stupid Drivers and avoid them as much as you can.
Maxim Number 2:
We all have fits of Stupidity from time to time.
Whenever possible, Avoid Driving While Stupid.
And then there is the Bain of All Drivers:
Pedestrians. Pesky
little critters. They are
forever getting in the way of all us Perfect Drivers.
Lurking in the shadows and popping out at the last possible
moment, they are like the arcade game, “Whack-a-Mole”.
However:
Where you want to “whack” the “mole” as soon as it shows, in
“Whack-a-Ped” (short for “pedestrian”), the object is to
avoid whacking the Ped.
Let’s face it:
Whacking a Ped is messy and leads to a whole lot of paperwork.
Best to let sleeping Peds lie.
But they don’t just “lie”, they lie in wait,
hoping to pop up when you least expect it.
And, in car-versus-pedestrian, it’s always the Perfect Driver’s
fault.
So I make a point of always stopping at each
Cross Walk at work. There is
a drive that goes all the way around the business park, with buildings
on the inside and parking on the outside.
The building where I work is exactly halfway around the circle,
so it doesn’t matter which way you turn.
There are eight Cross Walks in each direction.
If you stop for an average of five seconds for
each Cross Walk, it adds up to a walloping 40 seconds total time.
So the question becomes:
What’s so important that you can’t wait 40 seconds in the
interest of Safety?
(It’s a Trick Question.)
Love, as always,
Pete
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