Tanya's Road Rant

Fire Safety Involves the Whole Family

2011-09-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

Winter hasn't arrived yet, but we've passed the official first day of autumn. The leaves are beginning to tinge with color. The temperature, thank goodness, is a little lower at night. But that means we'll need to turn on the heat soon, and during cold winter months we usually see a rise in the number of fires because of increased use in secondary heating sources -- fireplaces, wood stoves and

What's a Defensive Driver, Really?

2011-08-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

Defensive driver: (noun) "a driver who drives to save lives, time, and money, in spite of the conditions around him and the actions of others. " I had a note from a reader the other day. "Perhaps one day you'll be the one behind a car that stops suddenly; then what will you do?" he asked. Ah, but that's exactly why I started writing this column in 2005. I hover on the line between good defensive

School Zone Safety 2011

2011-08-04T13:53:00.000-05:00

School zone safety – don’t be the one who blows it Tanya Davis It’s that time of year again. School is starting back, and that means school zones and warning signs and traffic backups. Motorists seem to drive with less and less care, and school zones are no exception. You’d think it would be only the uninformed, the ones with no children, and the ones with no brain who would be oblivious to

Boater Safety Begins with Education

2011-07-05T16:02:00.000-05:00

This week's topic is Boater safety. I actually thought boating was pretty straightforward, but it's not. There is equipment to manage, other people on your boat to watch out for. There are other boats in every direction -- not like in your car where they're only coming from 2 directions. There could be swimmers in the water. You have to know signals that could be done with lights, sounds, or

Driving, Swimming Corgis, and Reader Comments

2011-06-22T21:41:00.000-05:00

How's that for an eclectic title? *grin* Letters, I get letters…. I hate to ignore my readers.... sharing a few comments here.... A few weeks ago I quoted a saying I'd heard, that Corgis and pigs can't swim. New Kingsport resident Kim said, "My 10 year old Cardigan [Welsh Corgi] has been swimming and he is not a fan, either!" But Lym Hyman had a different view. "As for Corgis and pigs, I must

2010-11-16T13:04:00.001-05:00

Distracted driver: one who is talking on the phone, texting, drunk, or otherwise avoiding placing their entire focus on driving the vehicle.I adore US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. For one thing, he makes my job as a safety columnist so easy because he always provides me with fodder for my column. The other thing is that he’s, excuse the expression, hell bent on solving some of our nation’

Uncovering myths about domestic violence

2010-10-02T13:09:00.002-05:00

October is domestic violence awareness month. A great many people live a wonderfully sheltered life, where domestic violence –or even raised voices—are not a part of life. If you’re one of those, I give you a hearty thumbs up! But for many people, violence is a way of life. Because I’ve worked in the field of domestic violence for so many years as a shelter manager, court advocate, and board

Booster seat, or car seat belt?

2010-07-13T19:19:00.004-05:00

This week's Times-News column pertains to the use of child booster seats. Tennessee, Ohio, and Wyoming are the states with the strictest laws, requiring restraint seats up to age 8. (For comparison, Florida only requires restraints for children up to age 3) Most other states have laws applying to children up to seven years old. Seems to me that there is no question about the use of boosters for

Help is available for families of alcoholics

2009-04-04T12:55:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago this column touched on domestic violence, and it seemed to be familiar to many local families. Soon after, our community had its own encounter with the vilest of home violence; a mother shot her adult son, then herself.I do not know this family nor their circumstance. Whenever a crime occurs, rumors fly, and I have no way of knowing where the truth lies. The mother was quoted as

Help is available for families of alcoholics

2009-04-01T21:01:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago this column touched on domestic violence, and it seemed to be familiar to many local families. Soon after, our community had its own encounter with the vilest of home violence; a mother shot her adult son, then herself. I do not know this family nor their circumstance. Whenever a crime occurs, rumors fly, and I have no way of knowing where the truth lies. The mother was quoted as

Why can't we pay attention?

2008-06-10T16:54:00.004-05:00

Here's a great Harvard study on inattentional blindness, the phenomenon where we don't notice objects because we're too intent on something else. I'm really relieved to know there's a name for it; I must be the reigning queen. I can't tell you how many times somebody's told me they blew their horn, waved at me, or tried to get my attention some other way and I never even noticed.There's a video

Big Apology

2008-06-05T06:43:00.000-05:00

The other day I updated my email client. I use Thunderbird -- if you aren't familiar with it, it works a lot like Outlook. Only to me it has more options.Anyway, Thunderbird is supposed to do an automatic update, and apparently it did. Usually my Times News account downloads one or 5 or 6 letters. 10 if I'm lucky. Sometimes I don't even get one.This time it went nearly to 2,000.I had emails from

Gas Prices: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

2008-06-03T21:38:00.003-05:00

Whew. Looks like the motorcyclists get a break for awhile; this week's Times News column is about gas prices, and consumers' reactions to them.For example, this Nielsen study shows that we're tightening our budgets in response to higher gas prices. And Fox News said that many travelers changed their Memorial Day plans because of the costs.Many motorcyclists wrote over the past month to tell me

Thank you......

2008-05-28T15:46:00.003-05:00

A big thank you to everyone who answered the poll questions. Hopefully tomorrow's column will reflect your thoughts. There were too many comments sent via email, websites and this blog to cover everything in that one bottom-of-the page article, so I'll continue to talk about giving motorcycles room on the road in the weeks ahead.Tanya

A Poll for you

2008-05-13T14:07:00.001-05:00

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2008-05-12T14:21:00.004-05:00

This month I've been focusing on Motorcycle Awareness Month. It's not about the people riding the bikes -- it's about the people driving cars sharing the road. A couple of motorcyclists have recommended a great book that shows motorcyclists how to create a "space cushion," countersteer, counterweight, and a bunch of other things that simply serve to remind me why I don't ride a bike! :DMy May 15

More Ways to Deter Burglars

2008-01-24T15:28:00.000-05:00

Today’s column was about four kinds of burglars:The carpe diemThe smash-and-dashThe prowlerThe professionalI’d like to talk about some of the ways burglars get in, and how we can deter them.Burglars look for signs of neglect or absence. That means lawns that haven’t been mowed, mailboxes that have more than one day’s mail, lights that remain on for days, and darkened houses. So the first thing to

Home Safety

2008-01-23T13:44:00.001-05:00

For the past two weeks, I have been writing about ways to prevent your home from being burglarized. I wanted to share a letter I received from a reader. He's a certified locksmith, and I only quoted a small part of his letter in my Times-News column:I read your article. Thank You! As an FBI cleared Locksmith 11/04/1987 I am aware Certified Locksmiths have generally neglected the Residential and

Video, Anyone?

2007-12-31T13:47:00.000-05:00

My column has not changed -- the scope has just broadened. Instead of writing about traffic safety all the time, I will try to hit on some of the bigger public safety issues. If you have ideas, by all means share. In the meantime, everyone seems to enjoy the traffic videos:Watch the latest traffic videos on YouTube.com

2007-12-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

If you missed the stories of William's angel and Kevin's God experience, they've been posted at Make Mine Christian. click on "Angel Stories."Merry Christmas to all!

William's Angel

2007-12-19T19:21:00.001-05:00

Here is William Willocks' drawing of himself, his dad, and the angel that visited them in the car last week. Enjoy. :)(click it to make it larger -- you'll be able to see the descriptions of each item in the drawing)

Angels Among Us....

2007-12-19T16:23:00.000-05:00

My most recent Road Rant column is about two different individuals, both of whom experienced the power of God during a vehicle crash. I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I have!Kevin Eller shared his crash photos with me. This is his truck down the embankment below the road.Here is the truck after it was pulled out. It doesn't look like anyone could have survived the crash, does it? The inset

2007-10-16T18:20:00.000-05:00

It's the third week in October, so it's National Teen Driver Safety Week, a time when we are expected to communicate with teens about safety on the road. Ideally, parents should discuss driver safety every day with their teens. Hopefully, they'll even listen. As a parent, I can assure you that whoever invented some of the verbiage associated with this safety week did not have any children

Speaking of big trucks

2007-10-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

Since my column this week is about large trucks, I thought I would share a video.This is a video of a crash between two 18-wheelers and a state trooper. The trooper found the first truck in the median and was waiting for a tow truck to arrive when the second truck slid out of control. it hit the first truck, killing the driver. The trooper was not injured.Watch the video.

The Power of OLD People...enjoy!

2007-09-14T10:46:00.000-05:00

Click the play button and watch this old lady and an impatient driver!