Thanks for two recent reports: one about a highway patrolwoman and the increase in ticketing activity, and one about the neighborhood trying to do something about the speeding near them. I see an epidemic in speeding and otherwise unsafe road behavior, with a majority of drivers exceeding the posted speed limits, often while using cellphones. This newspaper has frequent reports of various collisions resulting from this, between vehicles, bicycles, poles, buildings, with some deaths and many injured.
What to do?
Most highway speeders use the left lane, which is true also of drivers on four-lane roads in the city and county, so maybe it would help to put some of the speed signs on the left, in the median strips. Or, do much more ticketing. Or, use more of the speed monitor reader boards, Or, throw in evening re-education classes for those ticketed. To do nothing means more deaths and injuries.
Why do people speed? I guess it’s like mountain climbers, because they can. Many drivers seem to be in a big hurry to get somewhere. Work? School? A bar? TV?
Maybe, it’s a sign of our dysfunctional times.
Roy Morgan
Vancouver