Ross: Dangerous Washington drivers need their own special lane
Jun 24, 2019, 10:46 AM | Updated: Jun 25, 2019, 9:52 am
I-405 express toll lanes. (WSDOT)
(WSDOT)
The other day northbound on I-405, I heard a revving engine. It was a black Mustang grinding past me on the right, which then went weaving through traffic like it was Talladega.
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You’ve seen people like this. They are the most important drivers on the road, because for them, getting there 30 seconds faster is a matter of life and death – sometimes, yours!
What do we think should happen to drivers like this, besides confiscating their cars and getting ICE to deport them to Talladega?
Well, this will surprise you, but I think this is one of those things that can’t be prevented.
Cars are now advertised for their performance and their ability to drive 120 miles an hour around hairpin turns in the Italian Alps. When a driver buys a car like that, it’s unfair to deprive him of the right to see what it can do in heavy traffic.
But the traffic has rights too. So I think it’s time, once we finish up the express toll lanes, to give these people their own commuting experience.
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These lanes would follow the 167 Right of Way, which is flat and seems to have more than its share of frustrated race drivers, but it would be walled off from the main highway.
I-405 toll lanes could be here to stay
It would be self-supporting. Yes, it would be pricey, because hey, this is 2019, and leg room isn’t free.
But once drivers paid the toll, they could pin the speedometer until they hit 405 and re-join the regular traffic. We’d throw in additional personal injury insurance as part of the toll package.
It wouldn’t be patrolled, so if you wipe out, that’s what you signed up for. Once that lane is built, and the NASCAR commuters have their outlet, state patrol will be justified in cracking down on anybody who still tries to play NASCAR in the “normal people” lanes, by immediately deporting them to Talladega with a chip in their butts that will alert the “Good To Go” system should they ever try to return to Washington state.
Once again, problem solved.
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