Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – Pay Attention

Most of us, take television for granted, with little thought as to what goes on behind the scenes. It’s a case of turn on and tune in. Simple. However behind the scenes, there is a flurry of activity.

First there is engineering, where all of the equipment is finely tuned, maintained and constantly monitored so that you are able to receive all of the programming being broadcast from the transmitter and tower, which also fall under the highly trained engineering department. Production control is in charge of bringing all of that equipment together in just the right manner so a program or commercial or ball game is sent to the viewer, and can be seen and heard. Both departments require highly skilled people at the controls, to make it all happen. Both also demand 100% attention, focused on the job at hand.

Meet Emily Spivy, director, editor, and producer. She’s the person in charge of production control at RSU Public Television. She pushes the buttons and calls the shots for the programming produced here. She also controls three camera people on the floor, directing them to the shots to take. Additionally she gives direction to the audio director, which mikes to open or close and when. Emily and her husband live in Sand Springs and she makes the drive to RSU TV in Claremore and back five days a week. It was during one of those recent drives that her focus and attention on what she was doing paid off.

Let me show you the video that her drive cam picked up. Watch carefully because it happens very fast. Everything seems normal at first, then suddenly, the big truck in the lane next to Emily, seems to leap into the air. Now lets’ slow it down… see the tire that came off another vehicle in traffic going the other way?

It’s headed right for Emily’s car, suddenly it’s struck by the truck in the lane next to her. Several things are at play here, at the same time and several things could have happened. Had she not been focused on what she was doing the results could have been catastrophic. She was focused on her driving and saw that tire coming, sized up the situation and acted accordingly. She was not texting or talking on her cell phone.

My point here is simple… the next time you climb behind the wheel remember Emily’s experience. Driving demands all of your attention. It can’t be shared with texting or talking on your cell phone. You are not bullet proof, you are a fool if you try to text or talk on the phone or anything else and drive. It’s as simple as that.