Gov’t cares more about fees than lives
As a risk consultant in the insurance industry who has been involved in vehicle safety, I can say with reasonable certainty and common sense, that if existing toll lanes were eliminated we would see fewer deaths. My point is simple — toll lanes makes traffic more congested. More congestion means more vehicles are squeezed into fewer lanes wherever a toll lane exists. More congestion means less space between vehicles at high rates of speed. At this point, physics wins and people, unfortunately, die. It’s really as simple as that cold truth.
An argument might be that they are “adding” a lane, but that does not wash. Its all in your perspective and logic tells you that where toll lanes are used, the other lanes are more congested. Just look around you when you are in a toll area and look at the congestion in all lanes but the toll lane. If people don’t have to pay-to-play you have another lane to use, traffic spreads out and there are better following distances.
As for the cost argument, we would pay for the “cost” of an additional lane in lives saved. Many times over, and especially in a state with some of the highest increases in fatalities. The very last thing we need are fewer lanes.
ROB BRANSON, ATLANTA
Trump putting foxes in charge of henhouse
President-elect Trump seems to be intent on putting foxes in charge of the government’s henhouses. As Kyle Wingfield gleefully proclaimed in his most recent column, Trump’s administration “will have a lot of energy to it.” It’s clear former Trump-denouncers like Wingfield are quite pleased with Trump’s advisors and cabinet picks. There can be little doubt remaining that Trump’s administration will continue working for Big Money and the 1 percent, not regular folks who voted for him to “drain the swamp.” Trump ain’t draining the swamp; he’s bringing in more snakes, leeches, and crocodiles to safeguard the “swamp.”
BIRNEY A. MONTCALM, WINSTON
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