As rideshare drivers, we are perhaps more aware of road safety than any other driver on the road. We have to pay attention to a myriad of things going on at once, from road and weather conditions to app notifications and our passengers’ general well-being. Truck drivers face perhaps some of the biggest risks while on the road. Below, RSG contributor-at-large Jon Knope covers the true story of Ed Slattery and the book The Long Blink below.
Every driver is aware, to some extent, that each time they get behind the wheel could be their last. Often this awareness is most present when we are first learning to drive. After many years, the magnitude of our responsibility to our passengers and fellow motorists may fade slightly, but for most of us it never leaves.
For folks like Ed Slattery, I can only imagine that this awareness shadows him at every turn. In The Long Blink, journalist Brian Kuebler traces the story of Ed’s life following a fatal truck crash. Ed was at work while his wife Susan and their two sons, Peter and Matthew, travelled home from a family reunion. After a series of phone calls, Ed learns that his family was in a serious truck accident. Susan was killed, and his sons critically injured. Peter eventually recovered but Matthew was left with permanent disabilities.
It’s a truly harrowing story, and it’s even scarier to imagine how any one of us could suddenly find ourselves in similar circumstances. The author exposes Ed’s reality of living with this massive emotional trauma in gripping detail, as well as Ed’s fight to make our roads safer and give his disabled son a better life. Once you start reading this book, it’s hard to look away; and no matter what kind of driving you do, it’s an important read. Make sure to enter the giveaway below for your chance to win your own copy of The Long Blink.
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