Editorial: Presence of deer another reason to rid driver distraction
By all accounts, Elgin police officer James Willson was doing all the right things as a dad and as a motorcyclist on the night of June 23.
He was riding his Harley-Davidson in the rural hinterlands of DeKalb County to escort one of his 18-year-old sons home from his late shift. His son rode a scooter to and from work.
The veteran cop, who lived in Kingston, was wearing a helmet. He was riding within the speed limit on the dark and winding Five Points Road.
What he couldn't be prepared for, though, was a deer that entered the roadway.
Willson tragically died of a heart attack after colliding with the deer.
His death is one example of how even if you're paying attention, taking safety precautions and following the law, bad things can befall you while driving. If you fail to practice any of those three safe driving edicts, you're just begging for trouble - especially if you're driving in rural areas at night where deer are prevalent.
There are other things lurking on our roadsides that are as unpredictable and dangerous as people. So any sort of distracted driving raises your chances of killing someone or yourself.
In our expansive research for our February series, Fatal Distraction, we encountered numerous drivers eating, checking Facebook, sending emails and texts, applying makeup, making phone calls and doing all manner of things that kept their minds and eyes off the roads.
Our cars already are filled with distractions aplenty - maps, apps, CD changers, MP3 players, pets and kids.
Performing any of these extracurricular activities on top of controlling your car is shown to increase your distractedness as much as seven times, according to our series.
Unlike with a car, experienced motorcyclists tell us it's nearly impossible to stop safely unless you have both hands on your handlebars.
As a follow-up to our stories about Officer Willson's death, columnist Burt Constable wrote for Tuesday's paper about how deer are the deadliest animals, killing more people each year in the United States than sharks, bears, snakes, alligators, dogs, cows, bees and spiders ... combined.
Last month, a 31-year-old passenger was killed when the motorcycle she was riding on struck a deer on I-57 north of Mattoon. A 61-year-old Rockford man died in April from injuries suffered after his motorcycle hit a deer two weeks earlier.
Given the number of forest preserves in our midst, consider deer to be one more reason to drop what you're doing and just drive.