The terror among us

     There has been much apprehensive discussion about the potential threats we face from shadowy terrorism.

     What if 3,154 Americans had been recently killed by lurking terror among us in the most gruesome ways imaginable?  What if this terror had injured 424,000 more Americans, many of them grievously?

     Those tragic statistics are real, recorded in the span of 2013 alone.  The casualties are even worse for 2014.  And for 2015.  They will be worse still in 2016.

     The bloodshed goes on.  Day after day.  Year after year.  At horrendous cost in lives and lost productivity and dollars. 

     The lurking terror among us is distracted driving.  It’s killing and wounding us every day.  Ten percent of all drivers under 20 involved in fatal accidents are reportedly distracted.  At any given daylight moment across our nation 660,000 drivers of all ages are using cell phones.  Some of them will not live to see tomorrow.  Headset phones have proven no safer to use while driving than hand-held devices.

     All of this death and destruction is entirely unnecessary.

  

     Yet has even one presidential or other public-office candidate dared raise this horrific issue?

     Might this terror be a worthy topic of political debate?  Might it deserve some attention from our lawmakers in Congress?

     Does anybody care?

     Somebody better.  Because if we continue to ignore this dark and very real terror among us, the decade beginning with 2016 will witness this scourge needlessly killing 50,000 more Americans and injuring four million.  Will you or someone you care about be among those?

Phil    

(Statistical source:  http://www.distraction.gov/stats-research-laws/facts-and-statistics.html)