In the past 7 days, there have been two news stories that have me asking several questions in which I already know the answer. Unfortunately, I believe us as a social value life but do not wholly consider the overall consequences and their potential to impact life. Both events which received a large amount of media coverage and resulted in the loss of life, as I look at them, could have been prevented.
The first news story was about a firefighter, Jonathan French, with the Glendale, Kentucky volunteer fire department. French and his mother, both volunteer firefighters responded to a van fire along Interstate 65 in central Kentucky. While working the fire, it appears that traffic in the outside left lane was still open. French was killed with a tractor-trailer hit and killed him while he was doing what he loved to do. So here are a few questions to consider: Why was traffic still moving if there were people whose lives were possible in danger? How did the tractor trailer end up getting close enough to the scene to make contact with French as well as a fire truck on the scene? What will happen next due to this tragic accident?
The other news story was about a dirt track driver, Kevin Ward, Jr., who lost his life after he was struck on the race track by the race car driven by Tony Stewart. According to several videos that have gone viral on the Internet, it appears the car driven by Tony Stewart made contact with Ward’s car and resulted in Ward’s car turning into the wall in crashing. Ward doesn’t appear to have been injured in the accident because he immediately gets out of his car and is waiting for Stewart to come back around the track to let Stewart know how he feels about being “taken out.” So here are a few questions to consider? Why did Ward get out of his car and stand in the middle of the track? Why were cars still going around the track to allow Ward to get close to the person he was upset with (inside a moving vehicle)? Why did the track officials respond with a more sense of urgency after Ward had been hit and knocked down to the track versus when his car had hit the wall after making contact with Stewart? What will happen next due to this tragic accident?
It appears that several preventive things could have been done to prevent both of these tragedies but both result in inconvenience to others.
After both accidents, safety workers should have been on the scene immediately. In the van fire, they were there and working to save what may have been left of the vehicle. At the race track, it appears they may have been waiting until the cars slowed down to cross the track.
When there are safety worker on the scene of an accident and there is a slight chance their lives could be in danger, traffic MUST be stopped. Had traffic been stopped in Interstate 65 a couple hundred feet from the scene I believe that Mr. French would still be alive today. Had traffic been stopped on the race track following the accident, safety workers could have gotten to Mr. Ward’s race car and helped calm him down. Also, with traffic stopped Ward would have to wait until after the race to approach Mr. Stewart with his disapproval and a good chance Mr. Ward would still be alive today.
I know there will be varying opinions of what was happening, what did happen, what could have been done to prevent the accidents and what needs to done to prevent such accidents in the future. I will leave the “what was happening” and “what did happen” questions to the experience investigators looking into both of these accidents. The question of “what could have been done to prevent the accidents” and “what needs to be done to prevent such accidents in the future” are questions that need to be addressed by the parties involved.
In the van fire incident, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration needs to review what happened and determine if additional rules need to be put in place to protect safety personnel, whether fire, police, EMS, etc. Life and limb are more important than folks sitting in stopped traffic.
In the race car incident, race officials need to determine why they allowed a drive to get out of his car to approach another drivers vehicle driving around the track. They also need to determine if it is best to stop all traffic until the driver, their car, and all safety personnel have cleared the track versus issuing a yellow flag and allow drivers to continue to drive around the track.
These are both tragic accidents that could have been preventable.
Praying for the families of Mr. French and Mr. Ward. Rest in Peace Gentlemen.