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

The theme I will focus on is: Road Rage
I plan to focus on a person/activity.
I might interview a bus driver.
What is it like to drive such a large vehicle?
Do you ever get road rage?
Do other drivers respect you or just treat you bad?
I have found an internet site devoted to Road Rage
I need a few more sources, mostly about defensive
driving and statistics.

Jimmie
ENG-101
September 11, 2002
Remembered Event

The main theme I am researching is driving so dealing with my essay, I would like to talk about two of the most memorable events from driving: learning to drive and other people’s stupidity. My very first experience driving was when my Aunt Linda took me out to show my where there was an airport going to be built. Little old me, a sixteen year old, having just gotten my license, wanted to drive so bad. So I asked her if I could drive us out and back. Before you get too worried I guess I should tell you that my aunt lives in Milton, a very small town and she lives about ten miles out a country road. So with the thought of little traffic on the road and my pleading to drive, there came the response, “OK.” The road was a tiny gravel road and when I got in her full-size van (I don’t know if you’ve ever driven a full-size van with driving experience, needless to say it’s a little different than driving a normal automobile) she started to direct me on what to do and how to put it in gear among numerous other things. So there I am finally driving, not too bad for my first time if I do say so myself. Then, came the first curve, don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate curves, I just think they should be a great deal more strait and if you have ever driven on a country road you know even more about what I’m saying. To my surprise she let me feel the curve out and go through it myself, the whole time never acting nervous. The only things she told me was something that I still think of today sometimes when I go around a curve, it’s nothing groundbreaking or amazingly profound, but only something that was humorous and easy to remember, “Slowly Do I Turn.” To me it sounded like one of the “Ten Commandments” and that was what made it humorous and even though she was giving directions, she was doing it in a way that a young man‘s ego wouldn’t be bruised.
My second memorable, but not so happy experience driving was in June of last year (I also think that this is where my hate and lack of trust in other drivers comes from). I was driving Sarah home from my house that night about 9:00 pm and after dropping her off was on my way back to my house with my ex-girlfriend (big mistake, you don’t even want me to go there) in the car with me. As I went around a very sharp curve, going a very reasonable speed, I saw headlights as I came around the curve. I mean seeing headlights are a normal occurrence for most people, BUT NOT WHEN THEY ARE IN YOUR LANE!!!! Sorry, got a little excited there, anyway my first reaction (as so not to get hit) was to try to get out of his way by drifting to the right to make more room. That was a big mistake, you see, what I didn’t know was that there was gravel there and this formula: gravel + automobile traveling at a reasonable speed of 30 mph = BAD. So luckily I get out of the way of the truck but the gravel had caused a problem, it caused me to lose control of my car and it did a 180 and ended up in a ditch. I was fine (so was my ex, ugh!) and the car wasn’t torn up that bad. The thing that started all my road rage was that the other driver (who I thought to be drunk) saw what happened and didn’t even stop to help me. So a few minutes later my parents and the police show up. Here’s the thing that really made me mad, the police put down on the report that I was speeding around the curve, lost control, and there was never even a truck there. I for one can honestly tell you that is not the way it happened. So at that point I lost all respect for the police and other drivers. Even though my experience was not that bad, it really taught me what my parents had said all along, “It’s not you that we worry about, it’s the other idiots on the road.”