
America's Untold Highway Scandal
Five times a day, someone is killed by a truck driver who s asleep at the wheel. During the Republican National Convention in San Diego last month, a young woman was driving down the San Diego freeway when mechanical trouble forced her to the side of the road. A man traveling behind her in a van saw her plight and stopped to help. He gave her his cellular phone to call for help. Within moments, the world fell in on them. A monster truck came barreling down the Freeway and swerved toward them. It sideswiped the van, grazed the good samaritan, and slammed head-on into the woman s car, killing her instantly as she was dialing for help. A police investigation disclosed the cause of the tragedy. The truck driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. When I read the details, I assumed it was an isolated disaster, one of those horrendous, unpredictable things that happen in life. In fact, it is such a common, everyday calamity that it is a national scandal crying out for remedy.