The Drive West

 A few years ago, I documented a solo drive on Interstate 80 from Des Moines to eastern Pennsylvania, on a road trip to Philadelphia.  This week, I did the opposite, a solo drive from Philadelphia to Des Moines.  I intentionally took a different route back via a few different interstate roads -- here's my summary:

* In Pennsylvania, Interstate 76 doubles as the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  The eastern half is mundane until your reach Harrisburg, where the terrain takes on the Allegheny Mountain range to the border.  You actually go through three fairly long tunnels carved out of those mountains.

* Who knew that as I-76 morphs into Interstate 70, you drive through just a few miles of West Virginia before entering Ohio?  I didn't.

* I-70 through Ohio isn't memorable, not even going through Columbus -- it's not like you see their famous zoo, or any of Ohio State University.  The closest thing to interesting is near Dayton, where you come quite close to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which you can't see, either.

* The interstate through Indiana is equally boring, except for Indianapolis.  It turns out the quickest way to get from I-70 to Interstate 74 is by taking the road that goes through Speedway, Indiana, right by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  As you might expect, seemingly every business around it uses the word 'Speedway' in it.

* Once in Illinois and back on Central Time, the super-flat drive quickly goes through a bunch of college towns: Champaign (University of Illinois), Normal (Illinois State), and Peoria (Bradley).  Seems like a bunch of places not to stop right now, as college kids become potential COVID-19 super-spreaders.

* Just west of the Quad Cities, it's time to make a final stop at the I-80 Truck Stop near Walcott, the largest truck stop in the country.  It's a tourist attraction.  It even has a trucking museum....I'm just saying.

I-80 East

I made a one-way road trip from Des Moines to Philadelphia last week.  Among other things, this provided me with 1100 miles worth of observations while driving east, with all but the last 100 miles or so on Interstate 80:

* Iowa gets stereotyped for flat terrain, but across the fruited plain east of the Mississippi River, it's actually much flatter through the northern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.  I suppose this is due to the proximity of the Great Lakes, but I never hear anyone refer to Ohio being flat.

* Once you cross the state line from Ohio into Pennsylvania, it suddenly gets hilly, and you spend most of the road time crossing the Allegheny Mountains, then the Pocono Mountains.  A much more scenic drive, but a much more difficult drive.

* Although I missed the toll roads in Illinois the lead to Chicago, it was all tollways through Indiana and Ohio.  Why?  The roads weren't any better in those states.  I was particularly discouraged about this in Indiana, a not-so-populous state that can't possibly need toll/road money any more than Iowa, which has no tolls on I-80.

* Did you know that there's an RV / Motor Home Hall of Fame and Museum along I-80 in Elkhart, Indiana.  Again, why?  This was the most memorable, cheezy site of interest along the way.

* It's no surprise that traffic was thick near Chicago, even mid-day.  But the worst of it was eastern Pennsylvania.  Once you get to Allentown, it's high traffic the rest of the way, because for some reason millions of people choose to live on a tiny section of America on the northeastern seaboard.

* Thank you to Google Maps, and Waze, and any other tech app that helps people with directions and traffic.  It's hard to remember how people could successfully made epic drives with only paper maps at their disposal.

Vehicle vs. Pedestrian, Redux

Today, I'm writing about a simple change in behavior that will save hundreds, if not thousands, of human lives each year.  It requires no change in the law, and no government or private money to implement.

Here it is:  Show some humility when crossing a street at a non-electronically controlled intersection, look both ways, and yield to the traffic instead of thinking it should yield to you.

I actually touched on this idea in a blog post about six years ago.  Unfortunately, it hasn't caught on.  I'm constantly amazed at how many people enter nonchalantly into uncontrolled (or not stop-lighted) crosswalks, seemingly without regard to the thousand pound steel cannonballs converging on them.  It just happened to me the other day, when a fat man and his dog crossed in front of me without so much as a glance.

Maybe it's just me (it isn't), but when I'm driving, I'm not paying that much attention to a poorly marked pedestrian crossing.  It's just another set of faded white lines.  I'm a lot more worried about the other vehicular traffic around me.  Hell, I'm at least as worried about avoiding potholes, which is in essence me saying I care as much about pavement conditions as I do about crosswalk conditions.

Sure, I know that a pedestrian supposedly has the right of way in a crosswalk.  But in the end, that is a specious argument.  What does that matter?  If my vehicle accidentally hits a clueless pedestrian, I might get a ticket, perhaps worse, but they might be permanently disabled or dead.  Who made out worse?

Given the no-win nature of this outcome, why do pedestrians continue to think it's OK to cross a street without taking the minimal precaution of looking both ways?  I know people aren't raised that way, so what makes them change?

Perhaps this is too broad of a conclusion, but I think today's 'look at me, I'm important' reality show / social media-based culture plays at least a minor role.  You know, the culture in which I'm supposed to care more about what you're doing than I am about what I'm doing.

Please.  In the meeting between vehicle and pedestrian, vehicle always wins.  Do yourself a favor, show some humility, and look both ways before crossing any street.

Vehicle vs. Pedestrian

Des Moines has recently seen a rash of transit bus-pedestrian accidents. In most of these the bus driver has (allegedly) been at fault, and both the driver and transit authority have been the objects of scorn and condemnation.

Without making judgements as to blame, it would seem prudent for people to simply heed the warning I've given my children since they were young: In the battle between the vehicle and the pedestrian, the vehicle always wins. So always assume the vehicle has the right-of-way.

Establishing fault in a vehicle-pedestrian accident might be an important future legal item, but it isn't a major concern to the victim lying in a hospital bed - or coffin.