Drivers make it difficult to go limit
Imagine a barricade of cars on the freeway, all driving the speed limit. The drivers aren’t breaking the law, but they sure are ticking off those behind them who can’t pass – some to the point of road rage.
That’s just what a group of Atlanta college students did in their award-winning short movie “A Meditation on the Speed Limit,” part of the annual college contest Campus MovieFest.
Besides getting flipped “the bird” by a few drivers, the four friends also experienced drivers whipping past them on the right-hand shoulder to pass. One even clipped a car that had pulled off the road.
The bottom line? People in Atlanta really weren’t interested in driving 55.
It’s an interesting experiment, if a little dangerous. What happens when people obey the law and force others to do so, too?
People in these parts aren’t much more committed to driving the speed limit even though it is higher.
In fact, Interstate 90 at Sprague Avenue was No. 8 on the Washington State Department of Transportation’s top 10 list of locations with vehicles at and above the speed limit, with 70 percent driving faster than 60 mph. Just 4 percent of drivers were going slower than 55 mph.
So a stunt like that pulled by the Georgia students wouldn’t go over too well.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigney said it’s a conundrum. If you stick to the speed limit you could invite road rage.
Still, Sevigney said drivers should stick to the speed limit, but leave the left lane open for people to pass, and on a two-lane highway should be aware of cars stacking up behind them and pull over to allow passing if necessary.
“You don’t know who you’re driving with out there,” he said.
Idaho State Police didn’t have anything to say on the subject.
You can watch the very short “A Meditation on the Speed Limit” at www.campusmoviefest.com.
Planes, trains …
Local railroad watchers have long seen plane fuselages being transported by rail through the Inland Northwest.
If you, like Spokesman-Review editors, were wondering where they are coming from and where they are going, here are the details:
The 737 fuselages are made by Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., and then transported to Renton where Boeing turns them into completed planes.
They’ve been shipped by rail since the 737’s birth in 1967, said Boeing spokeswoman Sandy Angers.
She wouldn’t divulge how many are shipped through Spokane on a monthly or yearly basis because it is proprietary information.
No shelter for smokers
The Spokane Transit Authority has long banned smoking in bus shelters, but the anti-smoking legislation passed last year may take that to another level, barring smoking anywhere within 25 feet of the shelters.
That’s what King County Transit determined last week.
STA spokeswoman Molly Myers said that’s probably the correct legal interpretation, but there are no plans yet to mark shelters with 25-foot signs.
Not so fast
Before you have a hissy fit because someone parked in a disabled parking spot without a disabled permit hanging from the rearview mirror or a special disabled license plate, take a closer look.
With all the new specialty plates in Washington, more drivers are going to be using disabled parking tabs instead of the standard plate. The tabs are pretty small – the same size as date tabs on all plates – but are marked with a disabled parking privilege symbol.
Slow going
Mullan Road will be closed starting Thursday between Appleway and Sprague. Traffic will be detoured onto Appleway, Farr, Sprague and then Mullan. The closure will be in place through mid-April as the intersection is rebuilt with concrete.
Traffic may slow this morning in the 2100 block of South Rockwood Boulevard. Crews will be removing a damaged tree limb.
The right lane of Washington Street will be closed at Second Avenue and the left lane of Second at Washington will be closed this week for utility work.
The south lane of 29th will be closed intermittently for two weeks between Grand and Southeast Boulevard for utility work.