It's called Russian Roulette. There are six chambers in the pistol. Five chambers are empty, one chamber contains a bullet. Spin the chamber, place the gun to your heard, pull the trigger. Sounds like fun, right?
Every time one of my sons is driving to Traverse City, my mind plays Russian Roulette: they could get killed on the way here. This is winter; the roads are icy; they are at the end of a many-hour-long drive. They may be tired.
It is not foolish to fear that they will die in a car accident. Every year almost fifty thousand people die in car accidents. That works out to one out of every five thousand of us Americans are killed every year. If that isn't Russian Roulette, what is Russian Roulette? Step into your car. Go somewhere. You have a one in five thousand chance of being killed this year.
I know that averages lie, that more accidents occur in big cities than in a small town like ours. But we here, in the North, have more than our fair share of deadly accidents in the winter. This is the first sentence of a recent Record Eagle article: "Weather that ranged from freezing rain to slick snow caused a rash of accidents in the Traverse City area this Friday evening."
Why can't we see that we must plan for alternatives to cars. The average price of a new car is $20,000. The message we hear over and over is that jobs are hard to get. Generation X knows it will not do better, economically, than the generation in power now.
Generation X will need, will desperately need, public transportation -- and our government has just announced a cut in funding for Amtrak. Among others, the link between Grand Rapids and Chicago will be cut. And American Eagle temporarily stopped air service to and from T.C.
Can't all of you see that this is a government of the rich, for the rich, and against all those who aren't rich. If you want to go somewhere buy yourself a car, increase your risk of winning this year's lottery: your chances are one in five thousand, but your chances will be better if you drive more, drive farther, drive for longer stretches of time. There is an alternative. You could pay big bucks for an airplane ticket -- if airplanes fly to your town.
I continue to believe that America's focus on cars is suicidal. It causes us to work harder to earn the money to own a decent car, a reliable car. And upkeep costs and daily costs cause us to continue to work hard. And we risk our lives when we go out on the highway. How foolish to be afraid of dying in a rare -- very rare airplane crash. Your chances of being killed, maimed, crippled for life, is much higher when you drive.
Why won't America invest in Public transportation. All of you listening have an answer to that question, but whatever the answer, the question will soon not be a question. We must invest in Public Transportation.
Copyright © 2004 Henry Morgenstein