While driving to and from Sacramento on Tuesday, I noticed a proliferation of an electronic sign the likes of which I had not seen.
It reads something like this: “If you are involved in a minor crash, pull to the side of the road.”
A motorist may see this sign eight or nine times between here and Sacramento, both going and coming.
As I drove, I pondered what the state is trying to do by putting up that sign. First, what is meant by “minor” crash? Planes crash. Motor vehicles, on the other hand, bang into one another. They sideswipe one another. They rear-end one another. And so on.
When one vehicle hits another, it can result in a crash in which one or both vehicles hit other vehicles, roll over and/or careen into the median. But such incidents are hardly minor. They are pretty major, in fact. They may result in death or serious injury. If you don’t think I’m right, ask somebody who’s been in one. That person also may tell you that he or she doesn’t think about pulling over to the side of the road.
People involved in motor-vehicle crashes can easily wind up in shock, and when you are in shock you aren’t thinking straight, regardless of what a big, yellow-lettered lighted sign suggests you should do.
On the other hand, if one is involved in a fender-bender, the story is different. One’s air bag may have deployed, knocking one’s glasses askew and giving one a bloody nose, but one can think about pulling off to the side of the road — and usually does without benefit of a big sign. If it were to say, “If you are involved in a minor fender-bender, pull to the side of the road,” that would be sensible.
Maybe it would be better to have a sign that read: “Be careful. Don’t get in a wreck. Don’t hurt yourself. Don’t hurt anyone else. If you do get in a wreck, it might be the last thing you ever do.”
Or something like that.