“Eric Matthew Wilson, a 20-year-old junior at Auburn, died Saturday when the car in which he was riding flipped into a pond at Conway Acres trailer park, located off Wire Road.” Sarah Brock wrote this article for The Auburn Plainsman on Oct. 25, 2006.

Wilson’s vehicle was found upside down in a pond. At the time when the article was written, there was suspicion of the involvement of alcohol. These types of things happen in Auburn far too often. Not just students driving under the influence, but even more simple distractions occur more frequently than one may think.

According to personal-injury.com, 4641 pedestrians died recently because of driving accidents. This number should be associated with 4641 individuals. I say that not to sound melancholy, but to be realistic about the seriousness of this problem. Surely some of these lives could have been spared if we as drivers would just stay off the phone, stop trying to put cream in our coffee and stop putting on makeup and pay attention to the road.

It would be best to look back on this event as an opportunity to make community members aware of things they can do to improve the safety for themselves and others on the road. In the video below, car enthusiast and car part store manager Sean Villalobos discusses what community members can do to improve safety on the road for themselves and other residents.

He considers general aspects of car maintenance such as checking air pressure for your tires and other similar maintenance tasks. Villalobos also talks about avoiding simple distractions such as talking on your cell phone or trying to tailgate the car in front of you too closely. Villalobos feels these types of things should be avoided.

I sincerely feel like if people would just make a strong conscious effort to become a better driver, the road would be a safer place for everyone. It’s so easy to just get in the car and take off to work every day without thinking about these things, but they should be seriously considered more often.

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