With parts of the country reporting temperatures as low as 40 below, cold so bad it makes your “skin hurt,” there are sure to be dozens of ice- or snow-related accidents on the highways. This means it’s a good time to talk about the perils of winter driving.

Touting his show’s safety record, the monster truck show promoter told a news reporter, “I wish I had a big piece of wood to knock on right now, but we have not had an incident besides a gal slipping in the aisleway at another location.” Just days later, the promoter, George Eisenhart, stepped out in front of a vehicle during one of his shows and was crushed to death.

If you get into an accident in the middle of a street, it is important you put on your hazard lights and then leave your car if you are unable to move it to the side of the road. Many accidents are caused because of another accident that occurred previously, if you have seen the movie Disturbia, you know what I mean.

When families get together for the holidays and exchange presents, the difficulty of opening the present usually is not considered. However, the term “wrap rage” has become commonly accepted, according to Wikipedia, to describe heightened levels of anger, frustration, and violence resulting from the inability to open hard-to-remove packaging. Wrap rage is something everyone experiences during the holidays, but we have never been able to put a name to it.

At the scene of an accident, it is rare that any of the people involved know anything about medicine or how to treat an injury. Movies portray someone ripping a shirtsleeve off, tying it around the wound, and carrying the victim to safety. Or, the victim is having a heart attack and the hero saves them by pumping the victim’s chest a few times and breathing air into their mouth. I would imagine that is harder than it looks; however, I have been thinking how valuable it would be to have a little knowledge in the area of emergency medical training.