November 6, 2002
ENG-101-Darby
Profile
“How do you know you suffer from road rage? You exchange your Uzi with laser sighting for a "more serious weapon” (Jokes-Funnies.com).” Driving today is a common occurrence for most people. A habit that goes hand-in-hand with driving is road rage. On Route 60 in Ona, WV there is a stretch that has been in the media all too often lately. The stretch of road between Cabell Midland High School and Yates Crossing has been the setting for two life taking car accidents within less than two weeks of each other.
As one looks down the expanse of asphalt it looks just like any other, somewhat gray from the salt and snow, now covered in a kaleidoscope of leaves, and with the vast emptiness of West Virginia rolling mountains to either side. For some who know the road or live around it, they know different. As some look at this road it brings back a memory of a friend, lost one early August morning to road rage. “An 18-year-old Milton woman was killed Thursday morning when her vehicle collided with a pickup truck east of the Yates Crossing intersection on U.S. Route 60 (Arnold, Milton Woman).” Friends know the story; Allison was driving home from a party after seeing her boyfriend and her best friend making out. In a rage, she left crying and angry. As she drove home that morning before daybreak, she became a victim of her own rage. As some pass that spot, they think about her and how horrible it must have been dying in that car and what were the last thoughts she had, could it have been: “I wish I could have told Mom and Dad I love them.” or “What happens now?” maybe even “I thought I had longer!”
For most people, there is a spot here or there where someone you know has wrecked or even died. For the Ronnie Hoover, that spot is at the sign marking Grant Gardens Road. “An Ona woman was killed Sunday morning (Aug.26) when the vehicle in which she was riding was struck head-on along U.S. 60. (Ona Woman…).” On their way to Lighthouse Baptist Church in Milton, Ronnie and Linda Hoover were hit head-on by Christopher Handley, who authorities say had a previous record of DUIs and was intoxicated at the time of the accident (Arnold, Milton Man). That Sunday morning I was on my way to church also, as I came out to the end of my street I saw the accident. There was the Hoover’s car with a white sheet blemished with crimson covering someone in the car, the road, also marked in scarlet, showed that life had been taken away from someone all too soon. As passerbys looked at Handley’s truck, flipped sideways, it was obvious that speed played a major role in the accident. A family lost a loving mother because of alcohol and road rage, what could it be like for them to pass that portion of road everyday? To think, “That’s where Mom died”.
It’s sobering for those of us whom live in this area of Route 60 to see someone we know or even someone we don’t, killed by road rage. How many people must pass these two unmarked sites and think about those who were, in the blink of an eye, gone forever? But, can the memory of the two save lives? Could there be a person speeding down the road, angry at the world, and glance over and see one of these spots, where in their mind the Grim Reaper stands along side the person whose life he stole and it remind them how brittle and frail life is?

Bibliography
Arnold, Lee. “Milton Woman Killed In Collision.” The Herald-Dispatch. 16 Aug. 2002. 4
Nov. 2002
---. “Milton Man Charged In DUI Death.” The Herald-Dispatch. 17 Oct. 2002. 4
Nov. 2002.
Jokes-Funnies.com. 4 Nov. 2002.
“Ona Woman Killed In U.S. 60 Wreck.” The Herald-Dispatch. 26 Aug. 2002. 4 Nov. 2002