25 MPH

While I believe dropping the speed limit from 35 mph to 25 mph on Second West in Rexburg is a step in the right direction in making this road safer to travel, part of me wonders if all we're doing is slowing down the dumb drivers.

Here's an example. On the way home from the bus stop Wednesday night, I came within a second of t-boning another driver who pulled a stupid stunt and shot out in front of me. i was northbound, near the intersection of Second West and First South. An INL bus was in the inside lane, preparing to turn east onto First South. I was in the inside lane. Traveling at just below the 35 mph speed limit, I came even with the nose of the bus. Just then a minivan on First South shot into the intersection in front of me, attempting a left turn. Had I been a second closer, I would have hit her. As it was, I put on the brakes in a hurry. She just kept on going. Once again, we have an example of a driver not taking into consideration what traffic might be coming her way. (I'm not singling our women here; this just happens to be an instance involving a female behind the wheel.)

I'm glad to see the traffic being slowed on this street, though I travel it daily and already lament the putt-putt track that is Rexburg's Main Street, where the speed limit is already 25 miles per hour. But I'll take the slower speed limit if the city doesn't cave in to the weenie whims and put a traffic light at the intersection of Second West and Third South. We just don't need one there. There's a light just a block north where pedestrians could cross more safely, if they wouldn't be lazy in walking the extra block. I did that all the time, living and biking and walking a lot in France. Folks do it in Idaho Falls all the time -- they don't have a traffic light at every intersection, and those who walk or bike have to travel out of their way sometimes to cross at a light.