ORNAMENTATION EXERCISE 

 

Read the short essay below, then locate and label the ornaments.  

 

                                  Driving and Idiocy 

      Somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away, there must be people who can 

drive their vehicles without causing injury or death to someone else.  Yet, 

for some unusual reason, driving in the southwest is dodgy and downright 

dangerous.  In terms of driving in the West, even parallel-parking is 

perilous, if not precarious.  Seriously, on a listing of the world’s worst 

drivers, Rome, Italy, was named the world’s most dangerous place to drive 

(second only to Nigeria) according to several experts.  But, the southwest 

corner of the United States must be somewhere towards the top of the list. 

Honestly, being unbelievably bad at driving must be a prerequisite to living 

in the West.  The only noted exception may be the state of Oregon which 

has the most careful drivers in the United States.  However, the drivers of 

New Mexico, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and California are some of 

the craziest drivers that I have ever seen.   

    To clarify, dangerous driving to me includes swerving (since the 

person is not paying attention), driving speeds five-miles-above the speed 

limit, stopping suddenly, not signaling, not wearing your seatbelt, and not 

having any gosh-darn sense.  Have you ever seen some silly girl or guy 

driving down the road while text-messaging their friends?  I have seen it 

daily.  Or, how about the guy or girl doing their hair or shaving while 

driving? What the heck happened to doing personal hygiene and email at 

home?  What the heck happened to obeying the law and thinking about 

others? 

 Plain and simple: People need to stop driving so recklessly.  People 

need some common sense when they drive.  People need to be more 

careful drivers, and use their signals.  And, finally, people need to leave 

earlier or just accept that they have to slow down.  First of all, driving 

recklessly is illegal.  Second, not using your signal is illegal.  And, finally, 

driving above the speed limit is illegal.  So, if people are such law-abiding 

citizens, then why do they continue to do these things?    

 The likelihood of being killed by crashing in an airplane being struck 

by lightning, or by being shot by a mugger is almost non-existent.  Yet, next 

to Cancer, Stroke, and Heart Disease, motor vehicle accidents are one of 

the leading and most significant causes of mortality and morbidity in the 

United States.  In other words, your chances of dying or losing some 

substantial part of your body from driving down the road are actually pretty good.  The accident need not be caused by another person’s recklessness.  

You can always rely on making mistakes yourself.  Or, you can rely on your 

vehicle to break something important at the worst times.     

One source recently concluded that you are likely to get in at least three 

accidents in your life.  What is the likelihood that one of these accidents is 

fatal or perhaps debilitating?  Gosh! I hate to think of the odds.  We need to 

drive safely.  We need to consider others.  We need to be invested in our 

vehicle’s regular maintenance.  Moreover, we need to convince our loved 

ones to be more careful while driving.  Our own lives could depend on it.