A Plea for Drivers to USE MORE CAUTION When Approaching the Intersection

On Friday morning, after Jenna and I had parted ways, I decided I would return to the stop where we had got off and take a bus to the high school and transfer there. 

I noticed the street was surprisingly clear and I could cross, but first I decided to text the time to see if it was worth the time.  Ten minutes.  I could cross the street and wouldn’t have to wait until I got to the high school.

As I was crossing, I noticed lights flashing in all directions from the intersection.  Then it dawned on me – the traffic was light on the side going north because no cars were getting through.  No buses either.  And so I called UTA to find if the detour would skip the stop I was at. 

It was a horrible accident.  Traffic was rerouted.  The bus drivers took a route behind the school and over to a road five stops away.  The only stop it made between the two main intersections was the stop where I usually go.

To think if I hadn’t been so lazy and thought myself clever, I could have been home 30 – 45 minutes before.

We found ourselves in a similar situation this morning.  This time it happened on the way to school and not on the return.  Different intersection and I’m guessing that no one was killed due to this morning’s collision.

Our driver had actually hit all the stops before turning around and backtracking through the college.  A few passengers who hadn’t been paying attention seemed a bit panicked when she turned.

“Where are we going?”

“There’s an accident up ahead.  We are on detour.”

I had actually wondered if the driver would take us to the main road right away.  The passengers were regulars from years ago.

“Oh, yes.  I remember this”

“Remember when they had a stop right here?” 

Traffic was backed up in a major way and so I planned on taking a different route home.  But after Jenna and I parted ways, and I approached the main road, traffic was moving again.  It still took a while to get home however.  Bus was late and I missed transfers. 

It’s possible to slow down, even for green lights.  Please use caution in the Intersections.

Thank You Budda and Freedom Fighter

            A week after Jenna’s first art class had finished, UTA had a problem when one of its trains derailed downtown.  The same train we would have been on had we still been commuting downtown.

I guess it wasn’t just UTAs problem, but anyone driving that particular path downtown.  It appears that it was covered by all of the media during some point of day.  But I hadn’t heard about it until after 6:00 p.m.  I guess by then it had become “old news” and I didn’t know anything more about it until the following day when I typed “UTA derailment” on Google. 

            The Tribune article was the first one that I came across.  Comments can be submitted and read at the end of the article. Many hurtful comments were made toward UTA and thus UTA passengers, but just as many had come to the defense of UTA and those who may have no choice other than public transportation.  I admire the courage of those who submitted their comments in defense of the passengers – many who do not choose to use public transportation but are empathetic to those who do.

            I didn’t read even half the comments.  It was hard to read the ones that ripped into the inconvenience of having to put up with rails and public transportation in the first place.  They are the ones who should be most grateful, I would think.  Certainly they have been inconvenienced by the construction and the building of UTA and perhaps getting behind a bus once in a while – but really, if they would look at the whole picture and consider the many passengers who use public transportation as a convenience so that they don’t have to drive or park downtown, public transportation makes it so much easier for those who do choose to drive because there are less cars to deal with.  Daily traffic could be so much worse.

            Slow moving or rerouted or stand still is an inconvenience.  Generally the traffic itself is not life threatening.  It doesn’t rob us of possessions or health.  It’s an inconvenience.  I’d much rather deal with horrible traffic situations than vandalism, or a tornado, or being shot.  Be grateful for public transportation and traffic lights and stop signs and traffic cops and so forth because when they aren’t present, things go awry. 

            So thank you budda and freedomfighter and for others who came to the defense of public transportation because (as pointed by some users of public transportation) there really are several who don’t have a choice.  We ALL need public transportation.  It does make a positive difference overall.



             For other coverage you can click here or here.  There is even a video on youtube.

I am so Grateful for my Decision to Give Up Driving

     I believe there are seven traffic lights between the bus stop nearest our house and the bus stop nearest to Jenna’s school.  Three of those lights are at major intersections – though the middle through street doesn’t seem to have as much traffic as the other two.   

     Truth be known, I would go out of my way for that particular street – but this morning there was a terrible accident and I would guess all of the emergency vehicles that arrived on scene had blocked the traffic in all directions.  One could move west and south initially, but that probably came to a halt.

     I had gotten off the bus at that particular intersection because I wanted to purchase three ingredients that were needed to make my enchiladas.  After I had made my purchase, I returned to the bus stop and saw that the bus would be delayed and I might be better off finding a different route. 

     Normally I would be riding north but had chosen a route that was headed west and normally turns south at said intersection – but there was just no way it would be turning.  Especially when the paramedics turned in front of the bus and blocked the lane where the bus would normally turn. 

 

     The driver, less than thrilled with the situation, continued west and detoured through a neighborhood to get back to the main road we needed to be on.  I had to back track where I had already been, but eventually made it to the TRAX station where I got out. 

     First I walked to the library to return a book and then I went to wait for the train.  I got off the train two stops later and waited for the bus and got off three stops later to continue to my house on foot. 

     Car accidents are such a pain – not only to the people driving, but those behind them and those who are waiting for the bus unaware that an accident has caused the bus to detour and perhaps have taken a detour around the waited stop.

 

     One of the worse accidents that I remember having detoured around took place as Jenna and I neared Kearns high school where she was taking a theatre class.  I didn’t have my blog then and was actually driving at the time.

     It was a Wednesday.  Jenna was in the first grade, I think.  We were living in West Valley and though the class did not start until 6:30, I would pick her up from school and drive to Kearns and we would park in my sister’s driveway and then visit with different neighbors until about 6:00 and then we would walk to the high school from wherever we were.

     On that particular day we had a five-hour window rather than our usual three, but I drove my usual route towards Kearns rather than returning to West Valley.  I saw the slowed traffic ahead and took my own detour.  It was before 2:00.  It didn’t occur to me that the instructor would be detoured four hours later due to the same accident.  

     Traffic was soooooooo soooooooo slow that night – as though the entire valley had been rerouted.  Everyone seemed inconvenienced.  It wasn’t until the next day that I heard about how severe the accident had been and how one or two people had to be flown from the scene to the hospital.

 

     It was actually a poorly marked intersection.  I had been in an accident at the same exact intersection only two weeks prior. I don’t know that they really fixed the situation.  There were more traffic lights added with x’s and arrows and extra lanes.  I really dislike that street.

     Before I started this post I could hear sirens.  All morning long I’ve been hearing them.  I’m thinking more accidents.  People just don’t take precautions anymore.  I don’t understand why so many were ever issued driver’s licenses.  Apparently in Utah, the written test is open book.  You think maybe we should change that?

     I really don’t remember when I last took the written test.  I would think I was still single.  I was surprised that they didn’t have me take it when I went back to renew just a few months ago.  But that’s okay.  I’m not planning on driving where there is traffic.  I’m okay with the dessert.  I’m okay with hick towns.  But I don’t want to drive where there’s traffic.