Born with a rubber neck
As promised, here is your first official Real Republican traffic report. I think as time goes on I'll just call this my weekly traffic vent. But for now we can call it a report, cause boy do I have some material to discuss!
It all started when I moved from California to DC. Driving across country alone gives you plenty of time to think and ponder what you are seeing on the road. Not to mention, it allows you to come to the realization that the majority of our regional transportation departments are completely incompetent.
Take for example, Arizona. I stopped in a small town just across the border from Cali to grab some dinner. I hit the road around 7:30 p.m. with Flagstaff as my next destination with New Mexico my target for the evening. 5 hours later I'm pulling into Flagstaff in the middle of a major snow storm. I had to drive half way across Arizona at 20 mph because the transportation crews had snow trucks going west. Not one truck was going east. You'd think they would remember the other side of the highway.
Or take Texas as an example. Almost all the way across the northern tip, through Amarillo, there is construction. Half the time they push you to one lane. The other half it's a very narrow lane without a shoulder. Here are my questions...when they have three lanes, why do they always insist on closing two at a time? Why can't they close one lane at a time to lessen the traffic burden? And why...why in the world would you narrow the lanes to the point only a Mini can fit through? And lastly, when a construction barrier is put in the middle of the highway, doesn't it make sense to have the barrier high enough to block the onslaught of car lights heading your way, as you drive in the mini-lane, in the rain, with the 18-wheeler next to you? Yeah...
My other question is, if I-40 is your major highway through your state, why on earth does the road look like something from a third-world?
I was driving across with a small Uhaul trailer. I noticed several times along the way other Uhaul customers who had blowouts. I feared the entire drive that my trailer was going to suffer a similar fate. And so you can imagine how freaked I got every time I hit a pot hole the size of Kansas. And this wasn't just from one particular state. About the only state worth anything in good roads was Oklahoma. Give them a few years and I'm sure they'll join in the fun.
And lastly, what on earth is wrong with society when we see a police car? I can understand the guy who is driving 80 mph in a 50 slowing down if he sees a speed trap. But when the cop already has someone pulled over, you he's not going to get you! And you sure as hell don't need to drive 20 under the speed limit just to make up for things. Hell, I wish the police pulled over the nimrods who do slow way below the limit just for giggles. You couldn't look more guilty.
And so there it is, my traffic rant from the great cross country trek. I'll add more as I see fit...which will probably be tomorrow after I make the hour long drive from Towson. Safe travels!
Labels: Traffic, Transportation