Safety in Driving!!!

Hi to all you fabulous Bloganistas -- it's been a while since I was last on my page, however, this morning made me think, long and hard about today's events and that I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings with you on the safety of driving and our responsibilities, not only to ourselves but also to those other drivers who share the roads with us.  
Bob and I were to meet our son, Robert, for breakfast this morning, as we do most Sundays around 10a.m. at Eat 'n Park.  At 9.15a.m. the 'phone rang and it was Robert asking if he could meet us around 11a.m. since he was out on a call since 5a.m.  My son, Robert, is a Volunteer Fire Fighter for Marshall  Township a suburb North of Pittsburgh, PA.  This was fine.  He said he would explain when he saw us.   Robert has been a Volunteer Fire Fighter since he was 16 years old - he will be 35 on the 24th of September. (That's him to the foreground at a different scene).  At 5a.m. today, while travelling north on Interstate 79 at the Route 910 Overpass, a young man was doing a friend a favour and driving him home - the friend had drank too much last night, presumably at a party, and the boy wanted to make sure his friend made it home safely.  Something went drastically wrong, because as the Good Samaritan's car drove under the Overpass, Fate stepped in and his car veered off the road over the centre median and collided with a large tanker truck heading south on I-79.  No need to tell you what the outcome was except that the driver did not survive - he was 19 years of age... .  By the way, the passenger who was not capable of driving, survived. 
This really impacted me and I could only begin to imagine the horror, devastation and grief the poor Mother and Father and all his family and friends are now being forced to face and endure.  Sometimes we forget that life itself, is like throwing a pebble in to a pond and we watch all the ripples reaching out, and out, and beyond.  That's what a single life does, it touches, it reaches out creating ripples out and beyond the immediate life itself and we carry thoughts of that life forever.  
So dear friends, please, when we are driving, be very aware of what is around us and let us give Thanks to those Special Men and Women who risk their own lives to save those in need.  Do you know that VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTERS make up 70% of all Fire Fighters in America - so, a motto to drive by "Never Drive Faster Than Your Guardian Angel Can Fly".
Until we meet again, cheerio, toodle pips and all that jazz.  Luv to all, "E"