As your Editor-in-Chief for Respondersafety.com, it is my task to bring you the latest in news, information, and knowledge from the world of highway and traffic safety. Many times each month, I put finger to key in order to share a tragedy or a close call with you. Sorry to say, these events happen with a melancholy frequency.

Normally I am charged with sharing the names of people that I do not know. Like any caring, concerned human being, I am saddened by the nature of the information that I must share with you. However, it is not normally a personal event for me. I am afforded the luxury of being a reporter of facts from a distance.

Such has not been the case lately. In less than three weeks, three personal friends have been victims or near victims of unnecessary personal attacks by careless motorists. The first time around, it was a Howell Township police officer struck by a careless motorist attempting to evade arrest. Incidentally, the hit and run motorist in that case was arrested this past weekend after an intensive investigation.

The second time around, the close call involved my buddy, Jim Peltier of the Southborough Massachusetts Fire Department. Jim is the son of my dear friend Jack Peltier, President of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors, and Safety Officer for the Southborough department. I have literally known Jim since he was a little fellow following his dad around the Fire Department Instructor's Conference. He has truly grown up in the service.

Last Saturday, I was calling Jack Peltier to ask for some travel help. Since my daughter Ellen was driving up to Massachusetts to visit friends in Haverhill, I wanted Jack to know she would be in his general area. Imagine my shock when he told me that his son had been struck by a drunken driver at the scene of an accident out on Massachusetts State Highway #9.

Jim was struck by a negligent motorist while operating at the scene of a highway motor vehicle accident. The Southborough pumper, that he had responded with, was parked to the right, on the edge of the road off of the slow lane. The pumper had a great many police cruisers parked behind it, since the original accident had occurred at the end of a high-speed chase involving a large number of Massachusetts State Police units.

It seems that Jim had seen the driver veering toward the back of his pumper. After shouting a warning to members of his crew and pushing them out of harm's way, he was struck a glancing blow and tossed over a nearby fence. Fortunately, there was no permanent damage. He was taken to a local hospital, treated for his injuries and shipped home.

In speaking with Jim, I discovered some interesting facts. Not only was the driver found to be intoxicated once the police had chased him and pulled him over, the driver actually admitted to talking on his cell phone and not paying attention to what he was doing. Talk about a double header: a drunk on a cell phone.

This was a real, honest-to-goodness close call. During our telephone conversations, I asked Jim if there was anything he might have done differently, in terms of highway safety-related issues. He told me that he felt quite safe, given the fact that there were a great many police cruisers parked behind his pumper.

It would appear that the driver in question was able to weave through the vanguard of cruisers and ram into the back of the pumper. This apparently was a case of threading the needle to get to my friend.

Jim indicated that all of the appropriate emergency lighting was in place and operating on the pumper. It would appear that Jim's survival was directly attributable to he paying attention to his surroundings. How many times have you heard someone tell you to pay attention to what you are doing?

Here is a case where it is a damned good thing that Jim was aware of what was going on in the world around him. I urge all of you to pay real close attention to what you are doing when you are out on the highways and byways of the world.

Just as I was preparing to put this column to bed on New Years Eve, I received an email from my dear friend and Masonic Brother from Delaware, Steve Austin. In this missive, he described an incident that can only be described as a real close call. Let us take a look at Steve's words to me.

"At 3:00AM this morning on a divided highway with two travel lanes with breakdown lanes on shoulder and median. My fire company responded to a single car, high-speed fatal accident. Flares were set up from the median across the highway, leaving the shoulder breakdown lane open for traffic."

"As we were directing traffic, a carload of young men ran up and into flare line. They stopped just prior to hitting my partner and I. The Delaware State Police administered a sobriety check to the driver passed. The driver passed."

"During this time, we also noticed a number of young women driving too fast for conditions. There was at least one who was on a cell phone, and numerous other drivers who indicated by their actions that they might be somewhat impaired. I suspect that this dangerous scenario was repeated in hundreds, if not thousands of places across this country over the Holiday Season. Now more than ever we must continue to address this issue!"

Please be careful as you move out to do your job on the highways of North America. Have a safe and Happy New Year. This case could have turned out quite differently. Thank God that it did not. Use it as an example and pay attention to what you are doing. Take care and stay safe.