Death on an Oregon Highway - Video by Tim King

Too many people die each year on Oregon's roads, here is a look at what those tragic scenes look like: the point is to remind everyone to drive safely.

Photos by Oregon State Police and other Oregon law enforcement and fire agencies. Video produced by Tim King Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - You have no idea what races through my mind each time I hear a siren wailing in the background, rushing to some traumatic incident and a person desperate for their assistance.

I think of the myriad fatal crashes I have covered in my twenty years as a news reporter and photographer, and all the tragedy and grief that accompanies them.

Fortunately, I do not have to go to these incidents anymore; not very often anyway. Instead, police in Oregon have become extremely helpful to the news media by sharing photos of the crash scenes that they already take for their investigations.

Information like breaking news updates are dispatched instantly through PDA's and Blackberrey's and IPhones from police and fire officials in the field, and the news media on the Internet can instantly send it back out to the masses.

Then when they have a moment, they email their photos out to newsrooms. This keeps reporters and photographers out of their accident scene, at least part of the time, and allows groups like Salem-News.com to convey the information with far more efficiency than ever before.

One thing that you learn as a reporter constantly receiving this information, is that there are actually far more fatal crashes in Oregon than most people realize. It is in fact, nice to see just one or two days go by without one, sometimes we have several in one day.

In order to produce this video, I had placed all of the images connected with fatal crashes in a single file called "fatalities". The video, set to a classic rock song by Kansas, "Dust in the Wind", only had room for about half of them. It is a sad reality that so many people have died on our roads and that we are in possession of so many tragic images.

Police and reporters know that the summer months and warm weather brings many people out to popular recreational areas and family gatherings and most of it involves driving.

Being a defensive driver is essential, anticipating the intentions of other drivers is possible, and always remember to check side streets and roads for the inevitable bicyclist flying down the sidewalk on the wrong side almost always completely unaware that drivers look to the left before pulling out onto streets, not the right. You have to train yourself to do this as a driver in this day and age.

We hope you will watch this video and just try to comprehend the amount of loss that this two and a half minute piece means to the families who lost loved ones.

I edited this video knowing it isn't for everybody, and I did so with ultimate respect for the families of those who died. The point is to remind drivers here that they could be involved in a life changing auto crash if they are not careful.

Slow down, take your time, take deep breaths and avoid road rage, don't tailgate, and remember that the speed limits are in place for a reason.

Special thanks to Kansas for the use of "Dust in the Wind", here is the video:

Video