Like many of you, I’ve been driving Interstate 10 along the Gulf Coast for much of my life. It has always been dangerous, writes Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column. Lately, it seems, it has gotten worse.
Drugs? Cell phone distractions? Incompetence? You tell me. I’m guessing all of the above.
On a recent road trip from Baton Rouge to Mobile, we saw at least seven vehicles that had wrecked or skidded off the road. Admittedly, there was some moderate, though not heavy, rain during our drive. But it always rains in south Louisiana.
And there were years when I would make the round trip between Baton Rouge and New Orleans every day for weeks at a time and wouldn’t see half as many spun out or overturned cars as we did over the course of just one weekend.
The stretch of I-10 east between New Orleans and Slidell is particularly bad. The rules of the road do not apply in this zone of lawlessness. It is a spectacle, at once fascinating and terrifying, to behold. Cars zip diagonally between lanes, zigging and zagging, as they make a sport of passing with the narrowest of margins.
With so many other pressing problems facing our city, state and nation, dangerous highways and reckless drivers don’t seem to be getting anyone too riled up.
But it’s a very real danger and we’re all vulnerable.
Read Riegel’s full column, where she details what happened when she tried to notify law enforcement about a particularly dangerous car she spotted on the highway. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com
