Americans are killing themselves and each other with cars.
Road deaths are soaring (see story here). Experts attribute it to reckless driving, drinking and drugs, more speeding, more people not using seatbelts — in short, people are going nuts on the streets after being cooped up in their homes for over a year.
Stir crazy. Cabin fever.
Gun violence and murders are up, too. Are we now living in an On the Beach society?
Whatever’s going on, Americans also are a lot angrier at each other. You see people going nuts in school board meetings. Droves of people are quitting jobs. I wonder what this is doing to the divorce rate? (If you’re curious, go here.)
And then there’s just ordinary carelessness. In the case of road accidents, a major factor at play is texting while driving. People are glued to their phones instead of looking where they’re going.
I suspect that’s why, in my neighborhood, a new high school graduate failed to make a curve and slammed into a tree. I passed by while the medical examiner and police were still collecting evidence at the scene, after the body was taken away but before the tow truck had removed the smashed car, which was still resting against the tree. It was a small car and a big tree.
That seemed so unnecessary.
