The Common Sense in Loss Control

I read this morning that the engineer that was driving the commuter train that collided with a freight train last month in California sent a text message about 22 seconds before the impact, according to the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.  Sound familiar? A few months ago, a MBTA subway operator in Massachusetts was talking on her cell phone when colliding with another subway car on the tracks in front of her.  In both of these cases, the evidence suggests that both operators were distracted while using their communication devices and missed crucial safety signals that had been transmitted to them.  The moral of the story is that you shouldn’t talk on your cell phone or text while operating a multi-ton train carrying other human lives.  The common sense is glistening on these words like the honey dew on a donut.

This got me thinking about common sense and the trouble that it prevents if you use it.  To paint the picture, here are some of the one’s I thought of:

• Don’t drink and drive (obvious)
• Don’t smoke while pumping gas (Kaboom)
• Don’t leave a metal rake on the ground with the tines facing up (schwapp)
• Smell the milk before you take a big slug (hurl)
• Don’t stick a metal object in an electrical outlet (need hair relaxer)
• Don’t ask when the baby is due unless you know that she is pregnant (dislocated knee from inserting foot in mouth)
• Never run from a growling dog (depends if you want the bite on your front or backside)
• Don’t talk to strangers (can’t avoid this; everyone is strange)
• Don’t gulp-sip a fresh coffee (you’ll need an expensive financial advisor to manage the millions you get in the lawsuit)
• Don’t sign anything if possible (its amazing how the little scribble of your name can knife you in the back down the road)
• Never look a gift horse in the mouth (never really have been sure of this one)

Please pardon the humor in a serious subject, but I needed to get away from the tragic overtone from the train accidents.  Look, ignorance is the villain to common sense, and it feeds on complacency and distraction.  It’s like an invasive plant species that can exist and flourish in the harshest environments and forces out all other species.  Common sense, on the other hand, needs attention and nourishment.  My point is that you have to engage a thought process and use common sense in order to prevent accidents.  If not, ignorance exists by default and someone gets hurt, or worse.  But common sense is oh so transparent, it seems to be human nature to forget that we have it in our holster.  Hey, I just thought of a great money making scheme; I will invent a common sense alarm that reminds us that we have it at our disposal and we should use it in moments of   Of course, common sense tells me that isn’t possible.