Archive for July, 2008

Officials in Iowa Hope Higher Fines Hit Brakes on Speeding

Speeding in a road construction zone in Iowa just got really expensive. Iowa drivers could pay up to $1,000 for speeding in a construction zone

The next time someone flies by those orange signs, they could shell out up to $1,000 for a ticket, thanks to a new Iowa law that took effect Tuesday.

“With all of the distractions today, work zones are more dangerous because they can be more unexpected,” said Steve Gent, director of the Office of Traffic and Safety for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Amid distraction, fines get people’s attention, he said.

Iowa has an average of six deaths per year in work zones, Gent said. While worker safety is a huge concern for law enforcement, most of Iowa’s fatalities have been motorists, he said. The last fatality, in southwest Iowa, occurred because a semi-tractor trailer zipped through a flagger station and rear-ended several vehicles, Gent said.

Nationwide, fatalities in work zones have increased by 45 percent in the past 10 years, according to a report by the Federal Highway Administration. Driver distractions, like cell phones, iPods and other gadgets, are likely to blame in some of the accidents, Gent said.

Read the rest of this entry »



If you found this website/post informative or interesting,
won't you consider making a small donation or other contribution?

Neighbors Shed Light on Dangerous Elbow Curve & Speeding Drivers

Jim Davis is a retired airline pilot. He knows a thing or two about radar.

That doesn’t mean he enjoys pointing a device at drivers speeding around a 90-degree curve near his home on Southwest Hensley Road in Portland, OR. But according to city-adopted guidelines, documenting actual speeders is one of the requirements toward getting speed bumps installed on this accident-prone elbow at Sunrise Park.

“I’m not in favor of doing this myself. It’s just a necessary step,” he said. “I don’t think I’d like some guy in baggy shorts and sandals pointing a gun at me either. I wish the city would run with the whole ball.”

Davis, his wife, Karen, and some neighbors including Michael McRae, are ready for some changes at the problematic Hensley curve. These longtime residents have lost count of how many speeding drivers fail to finesse the sharp east-to-north turn.

Cars have careened into Michael McRae’s block wall so many times, he wonders whether the latest damage — inflicted by a teenage driver on May 11 — is worth repairing anytime soon. He reels off wreck and near-miss details like a historian recalls war skirmishes: the ominous sound of cars barreling down the street, flying gravel, the GMC truck bumper left hanging on his fence.

“The first thing they see is the mountain,” McRae said, gesturing toward Larch Mountain and Mount Hood towering behind Sunrise Park. “Then they lose control.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Pages: Prev 1 2