Crackdown on bad driving on rural roads
More patrol cars will be nabbing speeders and careless drivers along twisty, rural highways in St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties, the Missouri Highway Patrol announced this morning.
The patrol is stepping up its enforcement efforts on several highways to reduce the number of fatal and serious crashes. The three counties have a 43 percent higher rate of death or disabling injury crashes than in the rest of the state.
“A lot of people aren’t paying attention,” said Lt. John Enderle of the Highway Patrol. “They’re speeding. People come around the corners too fast.”
The extra enforcement in St. Charles County will be on Highway 94 and Highway DD. In Jefferson County, the patrol will focus on Highways F, W, MM, B, A and Z. In Franklin County, it will be on Highway 47 between Washington and St. Clair, and Highways N and O.
Funding for the extra enforcement comes from the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety.
Hopefully they will also pay attention to the car/truck that is holding up others as it goes 10 below the posted limit. And yes I know that on these roads there is no posted minimum but there is such a thing as obstructing the flow of traffic. Personally I won’t hold my breath.
Part of the problem with accidents on these secondary roads is the speed limits are unrealistically low. Roads that I’ve driven safely for 30 years at a 55 mph speed limit suddenly had their limits lowered to 30-40. There is a ’sling effect’ on windy roads not there on freeways, plus the need to get up to speed to climb the hills. Also, many of the limits have been set at manual transmission shift points…to maintain the posted speed, you have to be constantly shifting.
Just because these city imports don’t have a clue how to drive country roads, lowering the speed limits to unrealistic levels makes things worse, not better, because then, everyone, even the usually law abiding, speed.
If you can’t deal with lettered highways, get back on the numbered ones and take the long way around.