Distraction and the real price for it

Watch this video before you read this post- WATCH HERE

Welcome to Harmony on the Highways. A note to our followers and new visitors, Harmony will now only post bi-monthly. We are sorry for any problems this may cause if you are a must have it follower.


Now on to the post. Earlier this week the local news in our area brought a tragic story to air.(see video) Below is a part of the story as it read on the news stations website.

GLADEWATER, TX (KLTV) - A horrible wreck on Highway 271 took the life of four-year-old Jonathan King, Jr. Jonathan's family says it was all an accident - that the grandmother, who was driving, was looking back to tell the kids something, when she hit a culvert and lost control. According to DPS, none of the kids were wearing seat belts.....Jonathan's sister Kaila is recovering at Children's Hospital in Dallas. She and the other kids are expected to recover but some will have to undergo surgeries.....DPS is still investigating the crash and, at this time, no charges have been filed.

Posted below are excerpts from the follow up story from the website.

Family members describe the injuries that their young children are still having to deal with after Wednesday's wreck. "Kaila's through with surgery, she's home," said Robin Wright, the children's aunt. "Chloe has to have nose surgery, but they can't do it until the swelling goes down some more." Another of the children has an arm and a leg in casts. And the family knows how bad it could have been.
"The rest of the kids are intact," said Randy Bell, the children's great uncle. "And we hate that we lost that little boy...but we could have lost all of them."
DPS has reported that the children were not wearing seat belts. But the family says that's not the case. "She would never take those babies anywhere, and think that they may be hurt," Wright said. "So two of the bigger ones would always sit on the outsides of the seat towards the door. Then two smaller ones beside them. Each two would share a seat belt, and then the lap belt in the middle, the biggest one would sit there."

This story truly is tragic and we at Harmony send our prayers to this family. However, the truly sad thing about this event is that it was very preventable. Read the story excerpts again and this time write down the things that stand out to you that seem to be not quite right. Immediately, as a former traffic investigator, I notice that grandma had too many children in that vehicle. Meaning that there were not enough restraints for the number of occupants. Also, the size and age of the children warranted use of a minimum of a booster seat (per State law) and maybe even full child safety seats. The biggest stand out is that the driver took her focus off the task of driving. I know, we as parents, all do similar things when dealing with children in our vehicles but the proper thing to do is to pull over in a safe place and deal with the issue. One other mistake, that may have been made, was placing two children in one restraint. This is a bad practice, due the fact that restraints are made specifically for one individual and many have weight restrictions to guarantee proper function.

Harmony does not know the complete details of this event and we are only commenting on what has been released by the media. Again, we use these types of stories to improve our curriculum and to help keep the motoring public aware.

Harmony is deeply regretful at the loss of life and injury as a result of these types of incidents. We hope we can enlighten other drivers to take notice of the bad habits we fall victim to as a result of our daily routines. Complacency is no excuse for forgetting "how to drive", for losing focus or not respecting the other driver.

Please, when traveling with children, keep their best interest at the forefront of your driving task. Injury or death to your own child due to your own negligence is hardly something that heals.

Thanks for reading and remember, children are our future...Please protect them.