By Walter Arnett

About three weeks ago, I received a call from my daughter-in-law, Kathy. Her voice was unusual sounding, so I asked her if something was wrong. Her reply was “yes,” that she had been hit by a young man in a pickup truck while crossing the street in the cross-walk and with the light in her favor, and was in the hospital in Woodstock, Georgia. Other than two broken ribs, a number of abrasions and bruises, and a broken ankle that required surgery and a steel plate installed, she felt she was lucky.

Steve and I, along with the rest of the family, are greatly relieved that, although the damage was serious, the doctor has predicted Kathy will have a full recovery in time. It will take about a year to totally heal the ankle with the plate as permanent support.

With all of the public service commercials on the different news media outlets about telephone talking and texting while driving being dangerous, too many drivers ignore the warnings and laws. The young man that hit Kathy was sincerely concerned for her well-being and, if nothing else, we hope he learned a valuable lesson. The next time the results could be much worse.

I understand he has good insurance. For his sake, I hope his company is one that forgives and won’t cancel his policy, because I don’t believe another company would issue one to him. I cringe just thinking about the cost, if they do.

Please, if any of you are still driving and using the phone to talk or text, quit now. It is too dangerous for somebody, even you. We’ll talk again next month.