Vigilance is even more important during the heavy holiday travel season, and nothing has driven that home as much as four recent pedestrian deaths on the state’s highways.

Within the last 10 days, passing motorists have killed a state trooper, a Good Samaritan, a Tennessee man retrieving an errant tire, and a Frankfort man who lost his balance while waiting for a tow truck.

Granted, investigations continue into each accident, and it is unclear where fault – if any – lies. But two of the accidents occurred in broad daylight, and none occurred on ice-slickened roads or in construction zones.