Unite for safer driving

Last week, I completed my vehicle registration renewal in two minutes online. Why can there not be an impactful, practical required module reviewing and illustrating most common crash causes, based on relevant local data, followed by a Q&A component for drivers to complete?

Likewise, at the driver’s license renewal center, waiting for an appointment presents another ideal opportunity for crash prevention education. We engage in a quick vision test; surely all would also benefit from a safety skills reminder given it has been decades since most earned a license.

I believe that car dealerships (which can run a safety video in waiting areas) and businesses that likewise profit should be approached for some measure of sponsorship. All residents are affected by these horrific crashes, injuries, unimaginable loss of loved ones, stress and ensuing outrageous insurance rates.

This would seem to be the issue to unite everyone.

Dianne Skripek, Temple Terrace

One missing link

A solution to DeSantis’ Medicare and Social Security conundrum | May 24

Columnist Henry Olsen has some interesting ideals about saving Social Security and Medicare for those most in need, but he overlooks a fundamental factor in his equations. The GOP has long been the advocate of the well-to-do and of big-money corporations. Any solution that requires the moneyed elite to pay more or receive less will never happen under Republican politicians.

Brian Walkowiak, St. Petersburg

Florida’s dangerous war on words

The Florida purge: Whitewashing history, banning books | May 23

Scott Maxwell’s column was spot on, accurately elucidating Gov. Ron DeSantis’ current preoccupation with whitewashing American history in our state’s elementary schools. Obviously, neither he nor his compliant Department of Education want our kids to learn the unvarnished facts about our nation’s sordid past, warts and all.

Apparently, Florida’s truth-challenged leaders want to teach social studies the way it was imparted in the 1950′s, when we didn’t read about evils including segregation, Jim Crow and the sit-ins. Now, it’s today’s current challenges such as the Black Lives Matter movement and why some athletes take a knee during the national anthem.

DeSantis says we can’t teach kids these disturbing issues because they will end up hating their country. But what is more likely to happen is that our young charges will mature into thinking all is well with our nation and any questioning of its actions is tantamount to insurrection.

Our governor is trying to mold our schoolchildren and educators into blind compliance with his autocratic dictates. Are we to uncritically accept the wisdom of “Big Brother,” or do we teach our schoolchildren the real facts and, more importantly, how to think for themselves?

Stephen Feldman, Apollo Beach