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July 30, 2004
Construction Zone Paydirt
The construction on I-540 between Springdale & Bentonville is pretty much finished. All that's left is some housekeeping work....and dealing with the more than 700 traffic tickets that were written since April.
Benton County Prosecutor Bob Balfe told his staff he wants violators "hammered. I've instructed my staff to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law"...."Trying to squeeze in at the last minute is not only the height of arrogance -- and rude -- it's a hazard, endangering the lives of construction workers," Balfe said recently. "It also stops the flow of traffic, hurts people trying to get home after work, and even affects the economy."
You go, Bob. I've driven through that mess just about every day, and IMHO, there weren't nearly enough tickets written. I can't tell you how many times I've sat at the end of the line of stopped traffic, teeth clenched and arms braced, waiting to see if the moron who didn't notice the stopped traffic would be able to lock it up & stop before rear-ending me. There were at least two who ran completely off the road to avoid hitting me because they couldn't stop in time even though the stopped traffic was visible for at least 1/2 mile behind me.
Imbeciles.
So I don't have much sympathy for ticketed drivers like this.
Stuckey said she was driving north to shop at Village on the Creeks, and passed a "Do Not Pass" sign. She was in the right lane, so that didn't apply to her situation, she thought. An electronic sign, which was supposed to tell drivers what to do, was turned off. [I call bullshit on that claim. I never saw an unlit sign.]
"The barrels (closing the lane) were still three-quarters of a mile away; if there hadn't been such an inordinate amount of space, the urgency of having to merge would have been more obvious," Stuckey said.
Yeah, like all the signs warning about the closed lane, which start 4 miles before the actual closure weren't obvious enough. The real problem was that like this lady, too many drivers thought the signs didn't apply to them....because they were in a hurry, too important or whatever.
Pay up and shut up, fools.
At an average of $175 per ticket, I'm sure Benton County will be more than happy to collect the fruits of those drivers' stupidity.
Posted by Rita at July 30, 2004 08:18 AM
Comments
I'll betcha she was driving a foreign car or an SUV with a Bush/Cheney sticker on it!
Posted by: Dan at July 30, 2004 09:15 AM
I doubt it. Most of the SUV's around here have "Save the Trees" and "Eat More Tofu" stickers on them. It's usually the old, beaten-up farm trucks that sport the Bush/Cheney stickers.
Posted by: rita at July 30, 2004 09:41 AM
I saw an Excursion today with a Kedwards sticker... we have very confused greenies here.
Posted by: Mike S at July 30, 2004 11:24 PM