Editor,

Driving is terribly dangerous. More vehicles on the road equals more reasons for drivers not to pay attention:  Talking on the phone, adjusting the music, setting the navigation system, texting, watching videos, reading, grooming or eating, to name a few. Hands-free talking truly means not holding the phone in your hand and talking via the speaker.

Distracted driving causes more than one million accidents annually, and results in 300,000 injuries and deaths which are often pedestrians, cyclists, and persons in other vehicles. Almost one dozen teenagers die nationally every day in texting-related auto accidents. Texting makes a driver 20 times more likely to crash than attentive driving. A car at highway speed travels the length of a football field in the blink of an eye; how long does a texting driver divert their attention or look away from the road? Add to that the lack of responsibility and respect some have to other drivers on the road.

Highway 525 has traffic traveling at near freeway speeds on a two-lane road. Yes, there are places where the speed limit is reduced to 45 mph, such as in congested areas like Freeland, Bayview and Ken’s Corner. The Island County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol could tell us how many motorists really obey the speed limit. If you have not noticed, we have a rush hour around here that we did not seem to have before. I’m not referring to the north/south multi-directional, every half-hour ferry traffic.

Everybody seems to be in such a big hurry to get wherever. They should slow down and think about leaving earlier.

Wait that three to five seconds for the car approaching to drive past instead of pulling out in front of them. Do you know how fast that vehicle is traveling at you? What if they are a distracted driver? You won’t get there that much faster, or they might not really want your spot in the ferry line. The need to “get there” is constantly displayed by those who must pass a left-turning vehicle on the right side. This process is terribly dangerous and could result in being cited. Traffic laws in Washington State reveal when you pass a left-turning vehicle on the right you are breaking about three laws: passing on the right, driving on the road shoulder and passing in an intersection. Statistics show when you are more relaxed, you pay more attention to the road and to the traffic around you, and the drive will be much safer, for all of us.

In my profession, I have the opportunity to see some of the disastrous and fatal results drivers create. Many years ago I had the less than desirous task of responding to an accident that involved my family, a rear-end accident at 55 mph in Bayview. That accident was caused by a non-attentive driver, long before today’s multiple distractors. Thank God the only thing that had to be replaced uses sheet metal. Others have not been so fortunate or lucky.

MIKE COTTON

Freeland

Editor’s note: Cotton is a deputy chief with South  Whidbey Fire/EMS