Slow down, you move too fast: People are trying to live here
Dear Misplaced Highway 40 Commuters:
Welcome to our community. We are happy to have you drive through our city to see and hear everything it has to offer. As you travel our roads on your journeys, please remember, this is where we live, just like before the Highway 40 shutdown. We shop at the mall, go to the grocery store, go to the parks, and drive our children back and forth to school. In the Kirkwood School District, transportation is not provided to all students.
Since January the traffic traveling on Manchester Road has dramatically increased. The inattention, rudeness, and the “all about me” syndrome have shown their ugly heads. Drivers seem unaware that children are present along the road. Some are walking back and forth to school, going to the park and to the stores. Many are also in cars with their parents trying to do those after school and work errands. Spring is now here and the number of people outside will increase.
Please, slow down, pay attention and be aware. I know you want to get home to your own families and sometimes the ride to and from work is used to gear up for or unwind from the workday. Please remember, this is where I live. During your commute, enjoy the springtime with everything returning to life, the greening of the trees, the blooming flowers, and the sounds of the birds. You could be surprised by what you are missing.
Lois Sexton
Des Peres
(7 votes, average: 2.43 out of 5)
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Not only does stupid, aggressive driving reduce the quality of life in communities such as Des Peres that are transected by major roads — it is also responsible for the majority of more than 40,000 people killed in traffic collisions in the U.S. every year (about 50 times the number of armed service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan).
But writing letters begging these aggressive morons to drive with civility is an exercise in futility. The only thing that will work is more apprehension of aggressive drivers, removal of driving privileges for repeated modest offenses, and jail time for gross offenses including driving while a license is suspended.
A particular problem of lax traffic law enforcement in Des Peres and most communities is that so-called “rush hour” is treated as a virtual non-enforcement period, where everyone drives faster and more recklessly, seciure in the knowledge that they can get waway with it because virtually everyone else is. Just like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Instead, police do a great job of catching people speeding on virtually deserted roads at 3:00 in the morning, when about the only people they are likely to kill are themselves. That’s OK in itself, but it would save a lot more live to shift traffic enforcement to times when the maximum amount of stupid, aggressive driving is taking place. Of course, if that actually happened, a lot of supposedly “good citizens” would be arrested and bring political pressure to bear on returning to the current level of lackadaisical traffic enforcement that allows “only” aomewhat over 40,000 people to be killed every year.