I would like to call everyone's attention to a growing safety concern.

As we all know, we are currently being victimized by the oil industry in the form of artificially inflated gas prices.

The economic pressures this places on the average person has led many people to buy scooters and motorcycles as a way to save money commuting to work and as a means of general transportation. As a result, we in the ambulance and rescue field, are seeing a dramatic increase in car-motorcycle accidents. These accidents frequently result in serious injuries and fatalities.

Many of these new riders are inexperienced and do not realize how much danger they are in when sharing the road with inattentive drivers in cars, trucks and SUVs.

I am asking all drivers, whatever your mode of transportation, to please immediately raise your awareness of this issue.

Drive carefully and drive defensively. Take a few extra seconds to properly judge distances and speed when maneuvering on the road, pulling out of driveways or changing lanes.

With a little extra caution we can all help prevent unnecessary accidents that have horrendous consequences for all involved. Please, drive extra carefully for all our sakes.

Lon A. Fricano

Auburn

Fricano is operations director of TLC Emergency Medical Services