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Sloooow Doooown!

Posted on: April 26, 2007

by Barbara Orr

Since Chubbuck Road has closed, and the weather has warmed up, I am one of three people I know who has been rear-ended by a driver who was driving too fast to stop at an intersection.

There have been at least a dozen similar accidents in the past two weeks especially at The Olympus and Pocatello Creek road area, and by the Chubbuck interchange by Walmart.

What has happened in the closing of Chubbuck road, is that people who had three ways out of the Fairway area, now only have two. Satterfield, and Olympus, and both roads feed into Pocatello Creek Road and the I-15 interchange .There is no longer a back way which avoided the traffic. People who trailer boats and trailers now have to bring them down Olympus, which is safer than Satterfield for towing. All of the people from that area are now having to drive down Hiline, Jefferson, Yellowstone, and Alameda to get to the Chubbuck area shopping, or to get to work.

People I see driving on a regular basis for business as I do have A lot more dents in their cars than they did two weeks ago. Please note, the traffic has suddenly increased in the main intersections At Chubbuck, Olympus, I-15 b y Fairway, Jefferson and Alameda And Yellowstone and Alameda, by at least a third.

The distance you have allowed yourself to stop in the past is not long enough because there is more traffic ahead of you. The rear end crashes are a direct result of misjudging the distance it takes to stop.

Other things that are happening, those great arrow lights are becoming more dangerous, as the traffic is heavier, people are trying to turn left in front of on-coming traffic, and the on coming traffic is speeding up to “catch” the yellow light, they might “catch you. It is also more difficult to get on Yellowstone from the side streets as the traffic Is not as open, use the roads with lights.

People who don’t drive much who used Chubbuck road to avoid the traffic at the main intersections now are taking the freeway or the main roads, and they are not used to the traffic anyway.

The solution to all of this is to slow down, shut off your cell phone while driving, and stop being impatient because you have to drive 5 miles out of your way to get anywhere. Chubbuck road is going to be closed all summer or longer because the bridge must be replaced, and all of the main intersections are going to remain more dangerous until we all slow down. The only other solution would be to require all of the people in the Fairway and Satterfield areas to walk until Chubbuck Road is open again, and I doubt if they would want to.

The business at the body shops has picked up wonderfully in the past two weeks, as has the claims departments for the insurance companies, Police have many more opportunities for writing tickets, so if you don’t want to be a person supporting these enterprises this summer, slow down.

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