By Neil Heinen
Editorial Director

There are two ways to look at some of the collisions, crashes and pileups that have been in the news in the last month. One, as often reported, is the mishaps are caused by winter weather, snow, ice and fog. The other is that they are caused by a loss of common sense.

Here's what viewers have told us recently: It's no accident.

Tom O'Brien, of Baraboo, writes, "I have seen a greatly increasing tendency of the general public wishing to deny an assumption of personal responsibility for individual actions. It was not the fog (that caused the pile-up,) it was the failure of the persons involved to … drive within responsible limits given the conditions."

And Bob Young, of Madison, sent this: "(The La Crosse) crash was not CAUSED by snow covered roads. Hundreds of vehicles passed through the same area without incident. If the snow caused this crash, everyone would have crashed. Drivers going too fast and following too closely cause crashes. We must start taking responsibility for our driving. Quit giving drivers an excuse."

Tom and Bob are right. We should stop with excuses and start taking responsibility. These crashes are no accident.

What do you think? Give your two cents in Channel 3000's TALKBACK section.