If you happen to be up in years, say past 75, I have some ideas to share with you today that may be of interest. I might add, these are ideas that could save your life. And if you are a younger person, you may have family or friends who can benefit from these ideas as well, so please read on.

Here in our area, we have what I call a new Indianapolis 500 Speedway, but some people call it Interstate 40. If you live in another part of the country, I am sure you have interstate highways there as well. A few years ago, the authorities increased the speed limit from 70 to 75 miles per hour in our state. This is something that is under the control of each state. I read that down in Texas, near Austin, the speed limit is 85 miles per hour. I can promise you one thing, when you get on an interstate and are going any distance at all, someone will pass you, usually several someones.

Let me say here that with me it is strictly an age thing. In my younger days I lived and worked in Little Rock, our state’s capital city, and as an outside printing salesman I was all over town, state and beyond, every single workday, and never thought a thing about getting in my car and going anywhere. But as I have gotten older, I have gotten more cautious, for the simple reason that my reflexes are slower as I have gotten older. For this reason, and since many times I have my precious wife Janis with me and I do not wish to endanger her life, now I am more cautious.

I might add here, and this is the purpose of this column, I have found a great solution, and one that may be of interest and value to you. A few weeks ago, Janis’s only brother Terry Howard was scheduled to have back surgery at one of our state’s major hospitals located in Little Rock. Of course, we wanted to go down to be with him, at least a couple of times, while he was in the hospital. Here is my solution, and one I hope you will consider. Wherever you have an interstate, before it was built people still had a way to get around. Here we call it the “old highway.” We can leave our house, go through Mayflower, and easily travel to St. Vincent’s Hospital and never get on the interstate.

I might add it takes about 20 to 30 minutes longer to get there, but if you are not pushed for time, you will enjoy the scenery and the leisurely scenic drive and still arrive in a great frame of mind. Here is my thinking, and you may or may not agree with it. It is a proven fact that in most automobile crashes, the one thing that kills people is speed. I just figured out that if I am to ever have an automobile wreck, I had rather be going 30 to 40 miles per hour as opposed to 70 to 80 miles per hour. This just makes sense, and by planning ahead, most of us can take an “old highway” and stay off the interstates. With time, as our country and state increases in population, the problem is only going to get worse. If you want to know how many people are killed in America each year in car crashes, just go to the Internet and look it up, you will be amazed and saddened at the numbers.

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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in the Log Cabin Democrat in 1995, Jim’s column has been self-syndicated in over 375 newspapers in 35 states. For a personalized copy of “Your Future Begins Today” send $20, which includes postage and handling, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)