Distracted Drivers Vigil
I live in Oakland, California. Depending on traffic, Oakland is about thirty minutes from Concord, California. On Saturday April 7, I was listening to the news when I heard that a Concord family was beginning a horrible journey that started when a teenager lost control of his Cadillac Escalade. The father, Solaiman Nuri, had taken his two daughters for a bicycle ride. Both daughters were hit. Solaiman and his nine year old were killed. One daughter survived. Solaiman Nuri and I are about the same age. I have an eight year old daughter. It was easier to imagine that something similar could happen to my family simply because I was being a good father.
Solaiman Nuri was an excellent father. His daughter was happy. She left behind a mother, a sister, and a large loving family. Many of them attended the vigil in Sacramento, California.
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Impact Teen Drivers honors those affected by distracted driving, such as the Nuri family. The organization was started after an internal California Highway Patrol survey revealed that automobile fatalities, especially those with young people, are the single most stressful part of an officer’s job. An officer is often the first person on the scene and an officer is the first person to notify parents. My father was rode motorcycles for CHP. I did not learn about the stress until it was too late.
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Humans resist change. Admitting mistakes and changing behavior is difficult. Perhaps these photos will help nudge a few people in the right direction. After being pulled over for a traffic violation, drivers often ask an officer, “Don’t you have something better to do?” Well, officers always have something more stressful to do. Hopefully, you will not experience the other part of their job.
To see the entire slideshow, GO HERE. Please reply in the comment section, especially if you attended. I may not accidentally omitted names. I am sorry for any oversight. Feel free to contact me directly, if you do not want to reply publicly.
NOTE: On March 26, 2015 I added a link to the photo gallery in the second paragraph and deleted a space before it. I left some of the other obvious errors because they reflect my state at the time.