• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
The Voice of the Colorado School of Mines, a Superior Education in Applied Science and Engineering
Volume 88, Issue 4September 24, 2007
News - 2Features - 3Sports - 5Editorials - 8Fool’s Gold - 10
Norman Augustine, formerCEO of Lockheed-Martin andmember of the “GatheringStorm” committee, spoke last Thursday in the second lectureof the Erickson DistinguishedLecture series. His lecture fo-cused on the future successof Americans in science andtechnology, with a focus onthe education necessary tomake the U.S. competitive. Augustine discussed fourgrowing problems in scienceand engineering education: therising cost of higher education,the lack of engineering classesduring the first two years of an engineering degree, theinability to condense mate-rial into a four-year degree,and the intense specializationof the different disciplines.“The master’s degree hasgot to become the basic degreeof our profession. I realize there
It had many of the signs of theearly civil rights protests — mili-tant slogans, upraised clenchedfists and multitudes of police— but none of the hate and fear-drenched campaigns in Selma,Little Rock and Montgomery. Thousands of protesters de-scended on this tiny centralLouisiana town Thursday, ral-lying against what they seeas a double standard of jus-tice for blacks and whites.But unlike the protests thatbecame landmarks for civil rightswhen fire hoses and police dogsgreeted demonstrators, therally to support six black teen-agers charged in a school fighthad a festive yet laid-back air.“It was a great day,” saidDenise Broussard of Lafayette.“I really felt a sense of purposeand commitment, but it was alsoa lot of fun. I met great peopleand made some good friends.” The march for the so-called Jena Six, a group of black teens initially chargedwith attempted murder in thebeating of a white classmate,was one of the biggest civilrights demonstrations in years.Hours later, police in nearby Alexandria said they arrested twowhites after officers noticed a
 The Colorado Council onHigher Education CounselorWorkshop occurs six times everyyear at six different Coloradouniversities. On Thursday, Sep-tember 20
th
, the CSM AdmissionsOffice hosted approximately 260high school college councilorsand college admissions repre-sentatives for this event. TheColorado Council on Higher Edu-cation (CCHE), which includes allColorado public and private four-year schools, as well as commu-nity colleges and other two-yearinstitutions, puts on these eventsevery year as a collaborativeeffort to help improve relationsbetween high school and col-lege admissions counselors. The event began at 7:30 AMand lasted until 3:00 PM. It in-cluded a welcome address fromDirector of Admissions Bruce Go-etz and President Dr. Bill Scog-gins. Other key events in the dayincluded updates on the CCHEcolleges, a college fair, and in-formation sessions on a broadrange of topics relating to col-lege admissions and counseling. These information sessionswere meant to appeal to bothcollege admissions representa-tives and high school councilorsand included important infor-mation which could be handeddown to college-seeking highschool students, as well as help-ing admission representativesbetter understand the studentswhose applications they receive.One of the sessions, said CSM Assistant Director for AdmissionsSarah Andrews, provided a“chance for high school counsel-ors to voice concerns about stu-dents transitioning to college” toColorado Governor Ritter’s P-20Education Coordination Council. Another, called Usable ResourceInformation, was designed spe-cifically for new counselors orcollege admissions staff, and in-cluded information on resourcesavailable for them as well asincluding introductions to topicsthat they would be regularly deal-ing with, such as financial aid. Andrews said the workshopwas a good opportunity to bringpeople to campus – they wereexposed to the new StudentRecreation Center and the newHumanitarian Engineering Mi-nor. Attendees were “impressedwith Mines, and Mines repre-sented itself well,” she said.However, she also stressed thatthe event was primarily an op-portunity for college and highschool councilors to meet witheach other and for the council-ors to find out about advance-ments at all the CCHE colleges.
Gathering Storm at Mines
Former Lockheed-Martin CEO Speaks Up
Hilary Brown
Asst. Editor-in-Chief 
are a lot of problems with that,but I think it’s just not possibleto cover what an engineer needsto know in a 4 year undergradu-ate program,” said Augustine.He stressed the idea thatbasic engineering knowledgeis not enough to be success-ful in the future. “Engineerswho can only do the tradi-tional kind of engineering arebecoming a commodity in theworld marketplace. Those jobsare going to disappear from America. People could do it forless money and do it equallywell. It will be the engineerthat’s creative and innovativeand imaginative and, as Jeff Wells says, can see aroundcorners,” said Augustine.“How do you teach innova-tion? How do you teach imagi-nation? Creativity? I think thereare a lot of rules of thumb thatone can teach, but the bestone is through experience, inlaboratories and jobs and soon,” he continued. “There arecertain rules – you encour-age people to take risks.Prudent risks, not irrationalrisks. You don’t punish peoplefor failure when their ef-forts were well meaningand properly carried out,because you are going tohave failures. You rewardpeople for innovation.”Education isn’t onlyto blame for a lack of creativity. “In manycases, I think ourcountry is makingit very hard for theentrepreneur, the in-ventor, the creator,because if thingsgo badly they getexcoriated in thenewspaper, theyget sued in thecourts, and so ondown the line,” Au-gustine explained.
SEE “LECTURE” PAGE 2
Protests Evoke Memories
Thousands Rally in Louisiana to Protest the Controversy
Mary Foster 
Associated Press
pair of nooses dangling from therear of the driver’s pickup truck. The driver, identified as 18-year-old Jeremiah Munsen of Colfax, was charged with incitinga riot, driving while intoxicatedand contributing to the delin-quency of a juvenile, authoritiessaid. A city attorney will decidewhether charges against the16-year-old passenger from DryProng are warranted, said Alex-andria Police Sgt. Clifford Gatlin.“I wish we had a chargein Louisiana for aggravatedignorance, because this isa classic case,” Gatlin said.In Jena on Friday, the statedistrict court scheduled a ses-sion to decide whether a judgewho has been hearing the caseof Mychal Bell, one of the sixyouths, should be made to stepaside from a bond hearing.Bell, now 17, is the only oneof the six black defendants to betried. He was convicted of ag-gravated second-degree battery,but his conviction was tossedout last week by a state appealscourt that said Bell could not betried as an adult on that charge.Bell had been arrested on ju-venile charges including batteryand criminal damage to property,and was on probation at the timethe white student, Justin Barker,was beaten. He remained in jail pending an appeal by pros-ecutors. An appellate court on Thursday ordered a hearing tobe held within three days on hisrequest for release. The otherdefendants are free on bond. The case dates to August2006, when a black Jena HighSchool student asked the prin-cipal whether blacks could situnder a shade tree that wasa frequent gathering place forwhites. He was told yes. Butnooses appeared in the tree thenext day. Three white studentswere suspended but not crimi-nally prosecuted. LaSalle ParishDistrict Attorney Reed Walterssaid this week he could findno state law covering the act. The incident was followedby fights between blacks andwhites, and in December awhite student, was knockedunconscious on school grounds. According to court testimony,his face was swollen and blood-ied, but he was able to attenda school function that night.Six black teens were arrested.Five were originally chargedwith attempted second-degreemurder — charges that havesince been reduced for four of them. The sixth was booked asa juvenile on sealed charges.On Thursday, old-guard lionslike the Revs. Jesse Jacksonand Al Sharpton joined scoresof college students bused infrom across the nation who saidthey wanted to make a stand forracial equality just as their par-ents did in the 1950s and ‘60s.But while those early protest-ers dodged police batons andwere insulted by the white popu-lation, demonstrators on Thurs-day petted police horses, chat-ted with officers and posed bythe Jena Police Department sign.“It was a big event for us,”said Donna Clark, who trav-eled from Atlanta with her hus-band and four young daughters.“We got matching T-shirts anddrove all night. It’s excitingand I think the girls can saylater they were part of history.”People began gathering be-fore dawn; state police put at-tendance between 15,000 and20,000, though organizers saidthe crowd was much larger.Law enforcement officials saidthe biggest problem was the heat.“It’s been a very peacefuland happy crowd,” said Sgt.Julie Lewis of the LouisianaState Police. “Really these arevery, very nice people. They arewelcome in Louisiana any time.” The only strident notecame at the end of the rallywhen a group of Black Pan-thers took the microphoneand led the crowd in chants.
SEE “JEnA” PAGE 2
Counselor Workshop
Jake Rezac
Staff Writer 
Best Profs.at Mines
See Page 6 
 
September 24, 2007
N
ews
Page 2
“We’re nonviolent when peopleare nonviolent with us,” one speak-er said. “We’re not nonviolent withpeople that are violent with us.”Jena residents, resentful of themassive protest in their little townand the racist label stamped uponthem, were scarce during the dem-onstrations. Businesses closed,and so did the library, schools,city offices and the courthouse.“I don’t mind them demon-strating,” said resident RickyColeman, 46, who is white. “Ibelieve in people standing up forwhat they think is right. But thisisn’t a racist town. It’s a smallplace and we all get along.”In Washington, the chairmanof the House Judiciary Commit-tee said he would hold hearingson the case, though he did notset a date or say if the prosecu-tor would be called to testify.Walters, the district attorney,has usually declined to discussthe case publicly. But on theeve of the demonstrations, hedenied the charges against theteens were race-related andlamented that Barker, the vic-tim of the beating, has beenreduced to “a footnote” whileprotesters generate sympa-thy for his alleged attackers.President Bush said he un-derstood the emotions and theFBI was monitoring the situation.“The events in Louisianahave saddened me,” the presi-dent told reporters at the WhiteHouse. “All of us in Americawant there to be, you know, fair-ness when it comes to justice.”
Jena 6
Continued from Page 1
Lecture
Continued from Page 1
 At the end of the lecture, Dr.Bill Scoggins, CSM President, pre-sented Augustine with the EricksonDistinguished Lecturer Award andannounced that Augustine donatedthe honorarium to the Guy T. McBrideHonors Program Washington, D.C.Internship Fund. It will be used tosupport a McBride student duringan internship in Washington, D.C.During a question and answersession following the lecture, gradu-ate student Joseph Dahdah askedabout the financial difficulties of earn-ing an advanced degree in scienceand engineering fields. Augustinereplied that this was a topic the Na-tional Academies were trying to ad-dress, especially through a proposeddoubling of the research budget.“The main problem is the econom-ic reality of our country doesn’t reflectany of this. There is no financial rewardfor teachers… and money isn’t theonly motivation, but it is a strong one,”said Dahdah during the reception.“They complain that women aren’tin science, but where are the incen-tives? There is no health care forfamilies of students. Why shouldwe stay in school when we canbe out there making money forhealth insurance?” added Cary Al-len, a graduate student in Physics.Many attendees agreed thateducation for science and en-gineering is an important topic.“It was a talk about an urgenttopic. It was one I thought we allneeded to hear. I was especiallyconcerned about the education part.I teach not just for McBride, but Ialso teach a course in foreign policyand I’m concerned about holdingthe attention of students so theycan succeed in their studies. Nor-man Augustine has done a greatservice by sounding the wake-up callfor these issues,” said Dr. Abeyta.“It’s a topic that’s very important tome. As an engineer, I’ve noticed thata lot of people don’t realize what wedo or appreciate it. You can see theattitude of people towards scienceby statistics that show interest in sci-ence is declining,” said Justin Hayes,a Petroleum Engineering student.When asked how he came to be aproponent for science and engineer-ing education, Augustine explainedthat he was thinking of the worldhis grandchildren will have to live in.Furthermore, “I’ve discovered,sort of by accident, that it’s easier tohave an impact in this issue, givenmy background, than it is in nationalsecurity or energy or homeland se-curity, because I spent my careerworking in those latter fields and itmakes you a little suspect, whereasif you’re interested in educationand science and K through 12 andthings like that, it’s pretty clear Ihave no stake in this other than thatI genuinely care,” said Augustine.“Whereas if I come in and talk about national security or something,people think, ‘Oh, he spent his life inthat – he’s got a stake in it – he ownsstock in the company’ and so on,”he added. “Ironically, and you mayhave seen a book called Augustine’sLaws, I guess there’s a law – thebetter qualified you are to speak ona topic, the less credibility you have. The less qualified you are, the morecredibility you have. That’s trouble-some, isn’t it?” he said, laughing. The “Gathering Storm” committeemet in 2005 and, in just ten weeks,generated the 150-page report thatwould give the committee its informalname. The committee was assembledby the National Academy of Science,the National Academy of Engineer-ing, and the Institute of Medicineto address the future competitive-ness of the U.S. in technical fields.
Lead Paint in Chinese Toys
Mattel Issues Recall, Formal Apology to Consumers
Over the course of the lastyear, numerous recalls havebeen issued for items importedfrom China, including contami-nated bath products, seafoodwith banned antibiotics, andother household products.Most notably, American toycompany Mattel has recalledmillions of Chinese manufac-tured toys found to containunsafe levels of lead paint.In order to protect consum-ers, a United States congres-sional committee was calledearlier this month, and legisla-tion was put into place to labelany lead-contaminated prod-uct as a hazardous substance.Lead has been found tocause exhaustion and flu-like symptoms in children.In severe cases, when vic-tims are exposed to largeamounts of lead, learningdisabilities and death canresult. Children are especiallysusceptible to lead poison-ing due to their smaller size.Cases of lead poisoninghave become much rarer overthe past few decades, sincethe substance was foundto be dangerous. Medicalofficials reported that theywere astonished after seeingthe figures on the lead con-tent of these modern toys. This most recent recallincluded 1.5 million toysbased on the much loved chil-dren’s television charactersfrom “Sesame Street,” “Dorathe Explorer” and also Barbiedolls. These toys were testedto contain an amount of leadpaint equal to roughly 200 timeslegal levels. In fact, the painton these toys were found tobe an unacceptable 11 percentlead, or 110,000 parts per mil-lion. Legal levels of lead con-tent in paint are only .06 per-cent, or 600 parts per million.Considering that roughly80% of the toy products on American market shelves aremanufactured in China, Ameri-cans are becoming increasinglyconcerned with the quality of foreign goods. A national tele-phone survey conducted by Re-uters recently showed that 35%of American consumers are“very worried” about the safetyof Chinese imported products.Executives from Mattel havesince apologized to both theconsumers and the Chinesepeople for the recalls. As vicepresident of worldwide op-erations Thomas Debrowskiannounced last week, “Our rep-utation has been damaged…Mattel takes full responsibilityfor these recalls and apologizespersonally to you, the Chinesepeople and all of our custom-ers who received the toys.”Luckily, no children have be-come sick from the lead paintin Mattel toys, but parents havebeen encouraged to check theproduct codes of their chil-dren’s toys with the recall liston the Mattel website. Any toysthat are found to be on the re-call list should be returned tothe store they were purchasedat for a replacement or for avoucher. In fact, many retailstores such as Target and Toys‘R’ Us have taken the initia-tive to inform customers aboutpotentially dangerous toysand aid in the recall efforts.Customers can also di-rectly contact Mattel withconcerns and questions.Over the following months,Chinese and American offi-cials have scheduled a num-ber of meetings in order todiscuss safety policies forChinese-made products, andinsure that consumers willbe able to purchase safe im-ported goods in the future.
Emily Trudell
Staff Writer 
The Oredigger wouldlike to thank authorEmily Trudell for herexcellent work on “New Life to Coors’ Waste,” a news articlein Issue 4 that wasmiscredited.
World News in Brief 
BRAZIL- During a trip toBrazil, Venezuelan presidentHugo Chavez announcedthat although Cuban leaderFidel Castro has been ail-ing, he has regained hishealth and could lead Cubaand live for “another hun-dred years.” Castro hasbeen the dictator of Cubafor several decades, andhas turned the control of the country over to hisbrother until further notice.
IRAN- Iranian ofcials an
-nounced last Wednesdaythat they had created plansto bomb Israel in the eventthat Israel was to attack Iran
rst. The Iranian government
also denied the claims thatit was attempting to cre-ate nuclear weapons, andinsisted that the countrywas interested in developinga nuclear power program.UNITED STATES - TwoDelaware State universitystudents were shot Fri-day morning and are be-ing treated at local hos-pitals. The campus wasclosed down for a day,and students were told toremain in the dorms or athome. Police report thatthe shooter was probablya student at the university. ALGERIA- A group con-necting itself with al-Qae-da claimed responsibilityfor a bomb explosion lastweek that injured nineforeign workers and theirpolice escorts. Frenchofficials declared thatthey intend to take ter-rorist threats very seri-ously, and will increasesecurities to keep trav-eling Europeans safe.CHINA- In an effort toreduce city smog by the2008 Olympic Games,the Chinese governmentdeclared that Saturdaywas the first of many “nocar days,” where citi-zens were encouragedto ride bicycles or walk to work. The declarationproved to be unsuccess-ful, as the flow of trafficaround cities seemed tobe as high volume as itwould be on a normal day.
 
Page 3
F
eatures
September 24, 2007
So did everyone tune in tothe Emmys Sunday night? Itturns out many people didn’t.In just two years, Emmy viewer-ship has dropped a dramatic30 percent. This year alone itdropped by nearly 20 percent.So why isn’t anyone watchingthe Emmys like they used to?It could be because of SundayNight Football. This year was the
rst year that the Emmy Awards
were scheduled at the same timeas football in some time zones. Orit could be due to the increasingprofanity on the set. The mutebutton saved a few actors thisyear, but it turns out even videoof sore losers had to be cut out.However, some feel viewers havestopped wasting time watching theactual show when they can check 
the news the next day, or ve min
-utes after the show hasaired, for all the highlights.Now for the recap.Everyone always wantsto know who was “WorstDressed,” and this yearHayden Panettiere, of 
He- roes
, stole the trophy withher large, coral Marc Bou-wer dress. So who was the lovely
lady who got best dressed? Accord
-
ing to some it was Ali Larter, also
from
Heroes 
, with her bandeau top,
slim-tting red dress. Many, how
-
ever, say it was Grey’s Anatomy star
Katherine Heigl with her simple white
Did Anyone Watch the Emmys?
The Emmy Awards Win the “Most Actors on a Set at OneTime with a Small Audience… and Getting Smaller” Award
Satira Tajdin-Labib
Staff Writer 
 “With so many categories, making theshow longer than three hours, the rea-son why no one is watching the Emmysis probably simpler than we thought.” 
dress. There were many other nomi-nees, each lady looking stunning, butbeauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 And who were the real winners of the night? Outstanding Lead Actor
in a movie went to Robert Duvall forhis lead in
Broken Trail 
, Outstanding
Lead Actress went to Helen Mir
-ren for her role in
Prime Suspect 
,Outstanding Reality Show went to
Kathy Grifn: My Life on the D-List 
.It was no surprise that
The Sopra- nos
managed to end the series
with a nal win in the Outstanding
Drama Series category, defeatingthe well-loved
Grey’s Anatomy 
.
TheSopranos
also won two standingovations, as this will be theirlast appearance after endingtheir show in June.
30 Rock 
 snatched the OutstandingComedy Series from
The
Ofce
. America Ferrera, aka
Ugly Betty 
, won Outstanding
Lead Actress in a Comedy.
 There were many morecategories, some seemed made upthat very night because they hadextra trophies on hand. With somany categories, making the showlonger than three hours, the reasonwhy no one is watching the Emmysis probably simpler than we thought.
[Oredigger] Whendid you first realize you were a geek?
[Weilert] Probablywhen I was 5 yearsold, I was already start-ing to draw robots.
What makes you a geek?
Wow, everything.From witty commentsand puns, to analyzing just about everything:thinking, how can I makethis better? EverydayI’m a geek. I made it aproject to watch the Top100 movies according to
the American Film Insti
-tute, movies like
Gone with theWind 
and
Lawrence of Arabia
.I memorize lyrics to songs aboutmath and chemistry and lip syncthem. I bought a lab coat just forthe hell of it. I mean, I didn’t needit for any class, I just bought it.
So do you wear the coateverywhere? [Weilert worethe coat during the interview.]
Pretty much, I mean it’s not
GeekWeek
ofthe
...Ben Weilert, Senior: Mechanical Engineering
Satira Tajdin-Labib
Staff Writer 
cold rightnow, butwhen itstarts Ihave mylab coat.
Whatis thegeekiestitem youown?
 Thatwouldprobablyhave tobe myplasmaball. Youknow theone youtouch withyour handand itattracts to your fingers. I actu-ally burnt myself on that thing.
Windows or Mac?
Definitely Windows, Ithink Mac is kind of stuck up.
What do you do out-side of school work?
More or less I lip sync to nerdysongs and put them on You-
 Tube. I’m in the Anime club andI do the Mines Little Theatre.
How many deci-mals of pi do you know?
 Actually now, not many. But I
used to know it to 500 [he swore tothis]. In Junior High, there was thispi contest and some guy beat megetting to 100, so I thought I coulddo better than that. I had this sheetcovered in all the decimals of pi, andI would constantly just glance at it. That’s how I memorized it up to 500.
Who is your role model?
My dad mainly. I’m here becauseof him, I grew up with engineering
around me. Also, I would have to
say Bill Nye, I just found out he hada degree in mechanical engineering.
Do you own any 20-sided die?
No, and I try to stay away frompeople who do. I’m not a Dun-geons and Dragons fan. However,I do keep four, six-sided dice inmy pocket all the time. You neverknow when you’re going to have tothrow them on the table for Yahtzee.
What do you want todo after you graduate?
I want to work in the Aero
-
space industry. Not for NASA,but the people who supply NASA.
To check out Ben Weilert,go to Youtube.com andtype in “New Math.” Trustme, his videos are hilarious.
Meave Hamm / Oredigger 
Ben Weilert is known for hisamusing YouTube videos.
When the topic of “Road Rage”is brought up, people generallylaugh. They assume it’s somethingexaggerated by the news, just likeeverything else. Road rage is real. The statistics are real. People dyingfrom other people not thinking, thisis road rage. My life is real and afteryou know what I lived through, you
will be a rm believer in “Road Rage.” As a child I grew up in the
suburbs of Houston, Texas. If anyone knows anything aboutHouston, they may know it is notthe best place in the world tolive, especially as a kid. However,my life was a normal child’s life. Ilived with my father, an Iranian im-migrant, and my mother, a NorthCarolinian. I also lived with myolder brother, who grew up enjoy-ing life with me, and he was besideme on the worst night of my life.It was the holiday season andwe had been out shopping. It wasnighttime as Dad started the drivehome, my brother and I sittingin the back seat of an old Nis-san Sentra. Myfather passeda car on theright and every-thing seemednormal. Noth-ing was normal. The car be-gan to speedup, and thenpassed us. My dad, who has atemper himself, got angry and spedup. We were starting to pass the carand were alongside but the driverwould not let us in front of him. My
dad oored it and we passed thecar. After he had passed the other
car, my dad pulled over. The carpulled over behind us. My dad gotout of our car and walked towardsthe strange man’s car. My brotherand I looked out the back window.Rain started falling from the sky,and it was pitch black. The lightson the car made the only clearimage of my dad and the man, just two silhouettes in the night.Once my dad returned, he saidhe talked to the man and everythingwas going to be okay now. Westarted driving again. I watched outthe rear window as the headlights of the car behind appeared closer andcloser. Soon I was blinded, he wasso close. Then he pulled to our right.He started swinging his car, trying toram us into the curb. My mom washysterical, she couldn’t understandwhat was going on. What could wehave done to make this man hateour family so that now he was tryingto kill us all? My brother and I satsilent in the back. My dad pulledin front again, and pulled over.
 Again, the car pulled over behind
us. My dad went to the man’s car,once again, they were silhouettes.
My father is very uent in Judo,
which is an art of mastering thepressure points of the enemy. This is why when I looked out thewindow I could see my dad’s black shadow choking the man. He wastrying to make him pass out, so wecould get away.My fatherreturned to thecar, apparentlyhe hadn’t suc-ceeded andthe other sil-houette wasstill conscious.We started off again. The same thing happened. The car was trying to knock us off the road. He wasn’t going to letus go home tonight, I knew thatfor sure. So one last time my dadpulled over, and so did the mysteri-ous man. I watched as one last timemy dad’s shadow glided acrossthe pavement. I watched past thehuge drops of rain hitting the glass;I watched through the Hell of night. This time it was fast. My fatherwas back in the car. He was holdinghis side with both hands. I still see itin my head, like it just happened. Mymother’s words still pulse through
my ears as if they can’t nd the
drum to vibrate off of. She kept re-peating: “What happened?” Thesewords would trigger a scene that nochild should ever have to see. Whenmy father removed his hand from his
side, there was a hole. At the time
you would never know there was ahole there, for blood was pouring
out. My brother and I sat horried,
choking on awe, crying dry tears.When they caught the man,the silhouette, I was informed that
he was an Asian man in his thir
-ties. He was tried and released.No charges were brought against
The Truth AboutRoad Rage
Satira Tajdin-Labib
Staff Writer 
him, on account that he did it inself-defense. My father survived.Miraculously, the object he wasstabbed with barely missed his liver.One good thing came from thisincident: now I am fully aware of the terrible outcomes of road rage.It has made me want to learn moreabout it, to see if it was just a onetime crime or if other people areexperiencing it too. The answersI found were more horrendousthan I ever could have imagined.My family has not been theonly one affected by Road Rage. There are stories from all over the
USA, and all over the world, andmany are more horric. According
to data collected by the Federal
Government and AAA, deaths from
aggressive driving are averagingaround 1200 a year, and this isrising 6 percent every year. TheWashington Beltway Study foundthat aggressive driving may be afactor in 50 percent of auto crashes.In a recent poll, results showedthat motorists were more worriedabout road rage than about drunk driving. Road aggression cases are
popping up everywhere. In Arizona,
a man was shot to death, while histhree year old son was strappedin the back seat, because he andother driver were competing in
trafc. Also in Arizona, a 15 year
old girl was gunned down afterher friend tossed a soda can at aneighboring car. If you just look you
can nd thousands of cases, many
ending in murder, of road rage.So what is going on? Why arepeople getting so angry whenpeople pass them on the road?What exactly is causing road rage?
 According to sources, many times
it is just the driver’s ego and in-ability to let things go. Since roadrage is now being recognized as anationwide problem, there are manyarticles on how to counter roadrage. Therapy sessions, instead of  jail time, are prescribed by courts.Here are some tips and adviceto prevent road rage. Try not to cutpeople off; when you merge make
sure there is enough room. Denitely
do not tailgate other drivers. Do notmake gestures at other cars, andavoid eye contact. If you sense thatanother driver is angry, try to steerclear of him, never try to duel it out.If you believe you have road
aggression, ask for help. As I
mentioned previously, there aremany courses to help you reducethe amount of anger you haveon the road. There are also manyself-help books. Don’t wait until it’stoo late. Road rage is an seriousproblem; it is not an exaggeratedtopic; and it is not to be ignored.
 “I watched one last time mydad’s shadow glide acrossthe pavement. I watchedpast the huge drops of rainhitting the glass.” 
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...