I have been in the auto insurance industry for over 27 years and still the hardest claim I ever had to deal with was a seven year old child struck on a bicycle by a man doing 65mph in a 30mph zone in his Red Corvette. He was high on cocaine and drunk. The boy lingered until the paramedics and then passed away. All he had done was ride his bike into the street where it was supposed to be safe. The street was a neighborhood road nestled between two larger roads and was never intended to be a short cut and definitely not for speeding. That boy would be 35 years old today. I am sure that the story had an impact on my writing of "The Red Ball" albeit an unconscious one. "The Red Ball" was more an indictment of parents not placing their children as a priority, and providing them a safe environment to play, as opposed to the failings or criminal activity of a driver. In fact you will note in the story there is no allegation of wrong doing on the part of the driver. We do not know if he was speeding. We do not know if he was texting or looking down at his radio, and yet the father and friends in the moment of horror sought to blame someone instead of themselves, with fatal consequences. I am not saying he was a bad father but in this disastrous moment he was an inattentive one. We have all been this way. I don't delude myself. I am just begging us all to be better. The young lady in the story and the young boy on the bicycle are not isolated incidents.
Facts:
In 2016, one in every five children under the age of 15 who were killed in traffic crashes were pedestrians.
I should have written this most two weeks ago because the #1 day in the year for child pedestrian fatality is Halloween. Children are three times more likely to be killed as a pedestrian on Halloween than any other day. For children ages 4-8 the fatality rate is ten times more on Halloween.
It is not my goal to throw facts ad nauseum to you because we all know distracted drivers kill more often. Drunk drivers kill more often. Speeding drivers kill more often. It is obvious and yet it continues to happen and more children were killed as pedestrians and cyclists last year than any other year since 1990.
I am writing the stories the way I do to approach this another way. Perhaps if the child tells you in their own words it can save one life and that will make this all worthwhile.
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