Be safe, be seen

We all know the advice.

Pedestrians should wear bright, reflective clothing; be alert and pay attention to vehicles; look left and right at crosswalks and corners; make eye contact with drivers to make sure they see you; and obey all traffic signals.

Drivers should be alert and yield to pedestrians; use their signals and look for pedestrians before turning right or left; and slow down and prepare to stop if the vehicle in the lane beside you is stopped in case there is a pedestrian crossing.

Many of these are common sense things. Unfortunately, accidents happen and people get hurt or killed. The majority of the time it is avoidable.

Drivers and pedestrians, please be alert. I don’t want to have to drive by another accident scene to see someone lying on the road, or have to stop at another accident scene to give first aid or offer help.

When something tragic happens, we often feel helpless, and there is little we can do to help. But we are certainly not helpless in prevention.