Letter to the Editor: This tough talk about lunatics in The Gorge will make you drive differently

December 4, 2017 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — How many people do you know who would admit to being a lousy driver? One in a hundred? I’m hard pressed to find one in a hundred who IS a good driver. Next time you’re out there, take a good look around. You’re surrounded by people who think they’re good drivers but haven’t a clue.

You’re already taking this personally, aren’t you? But, before you get all defensive and disagreeable, hear me out. I’m about to give you an indisputable example.

My business often takes me through the Virgin River Gorge driving Interstate 15. The Gorge, as it is referred to by those who travel I-15 between Las Vegas and Southern Utah regularly, is a busy place especially on weekends, accommodating about 25,000 vehicles a day including recreational vehicles, the big rigs and you name it. And, because it’s filled with mountain grades and perilous curves, it’s a dangerous place. That’s why the speed limit is 55 miles per hour from end to end.

I’m going to give this to you in plain talk. There’s something about The Gorge that brings out the lunatics. I’ve driven all over the world and have never seen such idiotic behavior and blatant disregard for the law. They come charging out of the desert from both ends at full throttle and, man, it’s get-out-of-my-way-or-die! Day or night, doesn’t matter. Even some of the truckers – the professionals who are supposed to know better – hurtle their 80,000-pound rigs through The Gorge at dangerously high speeds. Good drivers? You tell me.

Add to this the virtually perpetual roadwork. There are always bridges to be fixed and maintenance to be done. Sometimes the road goes to one lane in each direction and lane width is reduced to 10 feet. For good reason the speed limit is 45 mph. Go ahead. Try driving 45 and the dimwit behind you gets friendlier than your proctologist. Good driver? You tell me.

I watch them race past and wonder, “What’s wrong with these people? Do they not understand what’s going on here?”

Obviously not. They tailgate, pass on the wrong side and dangerously dodge from lane to lane and I’m guessing that half of those cars have kids in them. Sometimes I’m tempted to say, “Go for it, dummy!” but then I remember the kids.

Is getting to Cracker Barrel, Denny’s to the north or Mesquite to the south or wherever a few minutes sooner worth your life and possibly the lives of others? Is anything worth ending up dead at the bottom of The Gorge after an 80-foot plunge and maybe taking the family with you? You wouldn’t be the first to do that. Is getting there a little sooner worth turning you and your passengers into hamburger after colliding with the median or missing a curve because you’re driving too fast? Next time notice all those skid marks and the damage to the median walls and guardrails. They didn’t get there by themselves.

Here are a couple of fundamentals you apparently missed in drivers ed: The higher your speed, the more your fuel efficiency suffers (but then maybe money doesn’t matter to you); and the higher your speed, the harder it is to scrape you off the windshield when you crash (but then maybe life doesn’t matter to you either).

When I was a lad my Dad taught my brothers and me to respect and obey traffic laws just like any others. Why? Because traffic laws have a purpose – to save our sorry butts from ourselves.

Still not convinced?

Stand at any signal-controlled intersection in town and watch people turning left. Half will not signal, one or two will usually go for it after the light changes and a couple will turn into the wrong lane. Good drivers? No. They’re lawbreakers.

Stand at any corner that has a stop sign. How many drivers do you see coming to a full stop? How many even know why they should stop? If they do stop, how many stop where they’re supposed to stop? How many people do you know who obey speed limits? How many tailgate? Good drivers? No. They’re lawbreakers.

The drivers in The Gorge know better, but they don’t care. The everyday tailgaters, speeders and stop-sign cheaters know better, but they don’t care. In 2016 40,000 of us died in crashes and nearly 4.5 million of us went to the hospital with serious injuries (National Safety Council figures). With a few simple attitude adjustments we could eliminate most of this carnage. I won’t be holding my breath.

By the way, Arizona put up warnings this year at each end of The Gorge to slow us down over a long holiday weekend. “Slower is better than dead!” read the signs. Did you slow down? I didn’t think so. I’m not telling you how to drive, my friend, I’m telling you how to stay alive.

Written by BOB SEARS, St. George | Email: boge007@msn.com.

Letters to the Editor are not the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them.

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