PSA

This public service announcement is brought to you by a very tired, ticked off, and ranting public health nurse.

Gas is expensive, (we know, we know, already), but it leads to great traveling conditions. We had the least amount of traffic for a Memorial Day weekend I have ever seen this weekend! It was so nice driving home. There were fewer idiots out there on the roads, but of course you still run into your share, which led me to reminisce over past trips driving home.

Drinking and driving goes without saying... I will kick your butt from here to where you came from if I find out you do it. Only slightly less stupid is driving when you're too tired to keep your eyes open and your car on the road.

In the last year we have stopped twice at car accidents where falling asleep at the wheel was the cause of the incident. We only stop when lights and sirens haven't responded yet and in some areas that can take a long time. Last year on the same route we took today, we stopped just after John watched an SUV ROLL down the freeway and land upside down. I was woken up with, "umm, honey you've got to wake up and help these people." Lovely.

After doing the best we could to patch them up and wait for Life Flight to arrive, some poor lady was going to show up in the ER with maxi pads taped to her head after someone in another car fell asleep because they were too stubborn to stop for a nap. Do you know what road rash on someone's head looks like? Honestly people, pull over and take a nap.

Then, not three weeks ago, in the middle of the afternoon we were on our way home when we came up on another truck, again upside down. After scrapping up my own knees from the glass trying to get this guy to keep his head still, I found out he also fell asleep. He was soooo lucky. By some miracle nobody else was hurt. I got to call his wife at his request to let her know he had been in a car accident. I didn't really think anything of it until we left and I realized we were only a few minutes behind him, then I got ticked. He could have plowed into the side of our car and we would have been in a world of hurt. His huge truck against a Mini all because he didn't stop to take a nap. Again, pull over people!

My jump kit is running low and with the addition of a car seat, stroller, and diaper bag, I don't have as much room for miscellaneous first aid kit items. Next idiot we come across is going to show up in the ER patched up in Pampers. Pull over people!