Confused Yet?

A while back I was having a conversation about the dangers revolving (foreshadowing) around driving with a friend of mine. My daughter had just gotten her drivers license and I became more aware of the issues we face every day from behind the wheel. He immediately became agitated and mentioned a new intersection near our house. At the entrance to our local park where all of the sports fields for children were, they had just created a European style round-about.

There was really no reason for it at all. Two roads coming to an intersection... and they felt the need to add a decorative island round-about and at least 18 signs telling confused drivers what to do, and how to proceed. When I came across the photo below, I just had to share with you. Sometimes we try so hard to simplify things we just make them complicated. I'm all for progress, but typically the easiest way to do things is still the best. (Surely there is a government commentary here somewhere)



Rightnowautoparts.com

Driving here can be interesting!

I found this article in Popular Mechanics online magazine that highlights interesting or scenic roadways around the world. If you think about it, cars would not be nearly as fun without good roads and exciting things to look at or steer around. Speaking of that, I grew up in Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. It was one of the countries fastest growing counties for about 30 years. As such, I don't believe there was a day of my life where I didn't see our county mascot (the orange construction barrel) along the side of one road or another. Recently, road planners have decided that we need to be more like Europe in our driving habits (don't ask me- ask them?) and are beginning to tear up perfectly good intersections and replacing them with round-abouts. A friend of mine recently explained with a red face that he sat there and counted 37 instructional signs at a new round-about installed at the entrance of a county park. I personally believe these are funded by accident attornies in collusion with local police departments. Each group stands to make a mint as confused motorists run into each other and miss turns or stop signs (resulting in tickets and fines). Anyway, back to the article, I believe I would die of a heart attack if I had to drive on that cliff side road in China...