Risk Management Magazine

While we do only one quarter of our driving at night, 50 percent of traffic deaths happen during those hours. It doesn't matter whether the road is familiar or not, driving at night is always more dangerous. By taking some extra precautions, we can all contribute to reducing these numbers.

Things were going smoothly until my right ring finger got caught between the log and the splitter’s cast iron back plate. The sudden force of 27 tons of hydraulic pressure on my finger was excruciating! My first instinct was to pull my hand out of the way, but this may have actually caused more harm than good, as the flesh on the tip of my finger, to include the nail, was completely ripped off.

It was a Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and I’d traveled from Fort Drum, New York, to my grandmother’s house in Massachusetts to visit family. I planned to return to Fort Drum on Sunday because my unit was deploying to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, the following day. I’d made this drive many times, so it would be an easy trip — or so I thought.