Negligent driving...

We left Salt Lake City on Sunday morning (which, you would think, would be a good time to get out of town – since one would assume most Utah people are in church half the day on Sundays). The stretch of I-80 west of town is long and straight – skirting the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake and heading west toward the Bonneville Salt Flats. Just across the border in Nevada is – CASINO GAMBLING!, LIQUOR!, and SHOWGIRLS! – and those few Utah people who are not in church on Sunday seem to enjoy driving very fast across I-80 to reach the Nevada attractions.

 

The state has posted these signs to warn people about driving drowsy. And, indeed, we passed two accident scenes where drivers had left the road (both were eastbound) and torn through the highway median. We came upon one wreck just minutes after it had happened. A guy in an eastbound Dodge Dakota drove through the median and then rolled on the westbound of the road. It appeared he may have been thrown from the truck; there were a lot of drivers stopped giving assistance when we passed by. There are no towns on this stretch of highway, so we had gone quite a distance down the road when we met the ambulance passing by on its way to the wreck. This highway is NOT the place to get into a wreck, given its remote location and lack of assistance for those who get in trouble.

 

Another place to NOT drive fast is in the national parks, by the way. We passed by this scene on the way to Grand Teton. Some moron driving too fast hit and killed a full grown female bison. We did not see the vehicle (it had already been taken away - I imagine it was heavily damaged.) Yeah, that's the dead bison being loaded into a dump truck with a bulldozer. Yuk.

 

{D}