You probably already know this, but city folk like to get away every now and then, too. My family likes to leave the hustle and bustle of Manhattan for upstate New York where the forests are dense, the brooks are bubbling and the winding country roads look like scenes from cheesy, 99-cent store postcards.
Then there is the wildlife. Deer seem to come out of nowhere and after traveling upstate over the years, us city folk have learned that when traveling down those winding roads, it’s best to go slow and keep our eyes wide open for these beautiful, potentially damaging animals.
Now, if you’ve ever hit a deer in your life, or know someone who has, you are acutely more aware of those yellow deer crossing signs when you drive in heavily wooded areas.
Or you don’t.
A recent story out of Conrad, Iowa, reports that a 17-year-old teen driver has hit five (FIVE?!) deer in the past year while driving not one, but several of her family’s vehicles. For her efforts, she is now known as “The Deer Magnet” of the great state of Iowa.
What was she doing during these accidents? Well, hit number one occurred when she was driving home from work. Number two happened when she was driving to church on a Sunday morning. Number three, when she was driving a friend home from cross-country practice. Hit number four happened when she was on her way to a babysitting job and number five happened about a week ago when she let her mind wander while traveling down Country Road S-75.
The girl’s mother made a joke about her daughter’s deer hitting record: "Let's find a 50 dollar car and put a steel plate in the front. That way, if she hits a deer it's just going to bounce off.”
Really?
Doesn’t anyone see a problematic pattern here? It’s a miracle that no one has been seriously injured.
Instead of joking about playing steel-plated bumper cars with woodland creatures, let’s address the real issue: should this girl be driving? Should her license be taken away until she has completed some defensive driving classes? I mean, her insurance is probably sky-high after all those accidents.
Friends, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. If you see yourself making the same potentially life-threatening driving mistakes, and you do nothing about them, you are - by definition - acting like an insane person.
Enough of my ranting. What do you all think should be done?
