Sorry for the maudlin tone.
It’s ironic that this subject has come up as I have had to deal with the effects of it for the last few years now.

About three and a half years ago I was involved in a car accident. It wasn’t my fault as such, but my attention had wandered for a split second when driving and a HGV didn’t see me and ploughed into the side of my car. Thankfully it was on the passenger side and there was no one else in the car.

Most of my bones were broken and all sorts of things were ruptured inside me. I was in traction for six months and I still undergo physiotherapy to this day. Amongst my injuries was my spine breaking into three pieces. As a consequence I have been unable to walk since.

Not being able to walk and using a wheelchair has turned everything into a mountain really. Everything that I do now involves loads of planning but I am happy everyday that I am still alive and can enjoy various things. I enjoy the internet so much because it enables me to be level with everyone that I meet unlike in real life. I can get by myself but because people are so nice they always try to help me and I can’t help feeling a little demeaned even though people are just trying to help.

I do always think about the day of the accident and how the different outcomes could play out. Sometimes I lie awake at night and just dream out my divergent life. I think I would have had a different job, a different life. I might have seen more of the world instead of relying on my computer so much. I would never have met my fiancé as well.

But ultimately I realise that this line of conjecture is foolish and that I like my life at the moment and everything is organised and works.

Sorry for the maudlin tone. Bums and filth resume!
(powervator and NONE SHALL PASS, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 14:32, 3 replies)

Anyway...
...I suppose my entry for this QOTW is surviving getting my head kicked* in by a real wheelchair warrior for making up this sad old guff.

*If they can use their legs that is.
(powervator and NONE SHALL PASS, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 14:33, closed)

If I could venture a guess - what distracted you?
This might be related to a particular peeve of mine:

Driving is a challenging activity, requiring sustained concentration, with a risk of severe, possibly fatal consequences if attention slips.

So why is it legal to deliberately distract drivers? I'm referring, of course, to roadside advertisements. A roundabout is a place for anticipating the actions of several drivers at once, each with differing probable actions. You don't need your eye drawn, however fleetingly, to a flourescent yellow sign telling you about a local car boot sale next week.

A motorway is technically a safer road, but that is not justification for parking up knackered lorry trailers in fields along the side to mount advertisements and steal your focus (and these usually seem to cluster around hills and bends, where your visibility is already reduced).

It seems self-evident to me that the fewer trivial distractions there are clamouring for consideration, the safer the roads will be.

These may not be such a problem for experienced drivers, who can pattern-filter out some of this stuff (possibly excepting the stuff that *tries* to look official or important to draw your attention - notice how "polite notice" looks a lot like "police notice" to peripheral vision, anyone?). But newer drivers need all the help they can get, and there will always be newer drivers.

Edit: D'oh! But my point stands - there's too much dreck clogging the roadsides. Let us concentrate on what we need to.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 15:16, closed)

....
He just made the story up.
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 16:11, closed)