Three people were taken to the hospital after a two-car collision on Friday morning in east Oak Ridge.
An Oak Ridge Police Department crash report said Edgar L. Cagley, 77, of Kingston tried to turn left from Elza Drive onto Oak Ridge Turnpike in a Hyundai sedan at about 11:09 a.m. Friday, but he did not yield to an eastbound Cadillac sedan driven by Margaret Burnett Martin, 84, of Oak Ridge. Cagley drove into Martin’s path, causing the collision, the report said.
Cagley and a passenger, Felicidad Rioveros Cagley, 63, of the same Kingston address, were taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center. Edgar Cagley had incapacitating injuries, and Felicidad Rioveros Cagley had possible injuries, the report said.
Martin was also taken to MMC by ambulance with possible injuries.
All three were using shoulder and lap belts, the report said.
Andrew Howe says
I sure hope the injured parties are OK. Do they need an assist with anything while they’re in the hospital or while they recover?
This story touched me in two ways. The first is feeling compassion for the parties involved, but the second is in regard to one of my lifelong ambitions – to improve driving in America.
One of my biggest concerns in town is traffic safety as the percentage of seniors grows in town. Not that this was necessarily the case with this accident, but this is as good a starting place as any to confront what I see as a major concern
In the US we’ve developed a paradigm that is seemingly set in stone – everyone has the ‘right’ to drive. Officially, driving is a privilege, but in reality it’s so simple for anyone to get a license to drive that it’s effectively a right in this country.
For example, when I got my TN license 10 years ago I merely had to take a ten question, multiple choice, open book written test, and an eye exam. When I scored 100%, the guy behind the counter acted impressed though, so perhaps some people do have trouble getting licensed.
Regardless, I feel the state needs to do a better job at training drivers. In the past ten years I’ve met numerous people who thought you were supposed to cruise in the far left lane and pass on the right. Yes, you read that correctly. People here have learned by example, not by training, and thus for them the rules of the road are reversed. Of course, this creates a huge mess on the roads when people aren’t playing by the same rules – and I’ve witnessed it cause road rage, accidents and fist fights. This is just one single example of the repercussions of not properly educating drivers.
Oak Ridge is somewhat unique, I suspect, in that a larger majority of the residents are elderly. It presents a huge conundrum here, like it does anywhere, on how to address the driving safety issues that come with age. Nobody wants to restrict anyone from mobility, or freedom to get where they are going, but there are definitely seniors on the road that shouldn’t be.
I have no clue whether a city has any legal ways to force tighter control on who gets a license, but it may be something to look into.
Poor traffic flow is the major cause of accidents. Accidents occur most often when cars are in close proximity to each other, which occurs much more commonly when traffic flow is impeded. Those people who make the left lane their personal slow lane are MUCH more of an accident waiting to happen than speeders. Or so I’ve read in various study reports. To me it just makes sense – people who don’t know the rules are like a basketball player in hockey match.
We have an opportunity here, if the state law will allow, to set an example of how to make our roads truly safe by increasing the requirements for driving. Physical abilities and mental faculties all play into a driver’s reaction time and they CAN be tested. E.G. It doesn’t matter if you have 20/20 vision if it takes your leg 2 seconds to move from the gas pedal to the brake pedal, or if you don’t have the upper body strength to turn the steering wheel.
People wonder why road rage exists – it’s partially because our govt has allow the roads in America to become as pleasant to drive as shopping trip on Black Friday.
I’ve had the luxury many haven’t – I’ve actually driven in cars all over the world:
Holland, where you must complete an extensive 300 question test and pass with something insane like a 95% to get a license. It’s a paradise to drive there, in regard to predicting other drivers’ behaviour.
England, where the police enforce the ‘stay left except when passing laws’ (remember they drive on the other side of the road there), where cruising the freeway is a pleasant breeze because you aren’t constantly being blocked by others.
Venezuela, where drivers ignore most traffic signs and lights and use their signals only to tell folks behind them it’s OK to pass them.
Panama, where it’s a complete and utter free-for-all and everyone could qualify for Nascar because they are forced to be SO incredibly aware of their vehicle’s surroundings.
Gabon, where the Muslim truckers pay no heed to anything because to them it makes no difference – Allah will take them when their time is up and that’s up to fate and beyond human intervention.
The one thing that is common to ALL those places, despite the local rules they drive by, is that as soon as someone starts playing by different rules all hell breaks loose and you have problems.
And that is precisely what’s going on in the USA today – people no longer are all driving by the same rules. It’s time to fix this, and many other things related to driving.
That was a long Sunday drive down Comparison Lane, a little side trek on my way to Oak Ridge road safety. I hope you found the scenery interesting.
I know how strong a voting voice the seniors have, so I fully expect nothing to be done on this anywhere in the USA, but the facts remain the same – seniors behind the wheel worry us all and there ARE things that can be done to improve the situation.
My grandpa knew when he should and shouldn’t be on the road, and he eventually turned in his license. I hope I can be as civic minded when I’m faced with such a hard choice as to give up driving. I think I’ll be able to though – just look for the old skinny dude on horseback, and wave howdy.
Vroom Vroom!
Sam Hopwood says
Some of us dirty, rotten, lowdown seniors might disagree with you although I will readily agree that seniors contribute their share of problems when driving. If somehow we could just get rid of seniors and teenagers the world would be a much safer place. 🙂
Incidentally I have read that Germany requires one to be 21 to qualify for a driver’s license but one can buy a beer when they are 16. Works for them. 🙂
Andrew Howe says
That’s OK, so long as I get to tip a pint or sip some port with the dirty rotten lowdown seniors after the scolding!
😉
good point about the teens, cursed whipper-snappers! Most of the wrecks I hear about are by newer drivers, which only makes sense.
I take my vehicles out to icy parking lots in the winter to do doughnuts to make sure I know how they handle when in uncontrolled situations. Very fun and very good practice. Probably saved my life at least once, too. Dirt/mud parking lots can work well for this also, but patchy ice is the best, IMHO.
I was cut into on I-40 at 65 mph (someone wanted to be in the passing lane while I was passing them but she failed to use her side mirror before moving into my lane). I did a 360, bounced off the guard rail twice, surrounded by tight traffic, managed to not hit another vehicle or even halt traffic flow, fishtail straightened her out and kept on moving with traffic.
I was very lucky, but because I’ve practiced the ‘crazy’ stuff, I never lost composure, which I’m sure helped me. I can still remember distinctly thinking (you know how time slows down during adrenaline rushes) “keep the wheels pointing forward, and coast until the tires find their grip again.”
Point is, I’ll be making sure my young’un is very prepared for the road, beyond what he’ll gain from driver’s ed. He’ll still be a higher risk driver, but I hope to minimize that in all ways I can.
johnhuotari says
Andy, I don’t have any updates on conditions, but I’ll let you know if I do.