TERRE HAUTE —
A major holiday weekend is approaching. The weather has been consistently inviting for travel and outdoor activity. Gas prices are even inching downward.
The ingredients are in place for a busy period on Indiana’s highways and byways this week and during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. If you’re tempted to set out on a travel itinerary that includes Interstate 70 between Terre Haute and Indianapolis, consider this a cautionary tale.
I-70 is being prepared for a major resurfacing of the entire western Indiana span of four-lane highway in coming months. That means there are multiple construction zones already in place, in both lanes, between the Illinois border and Plainfield. With traffic expected to be even heavier than usual this week, well … it’s best to heed the warning of potential hazards ahead.
West-central Indiana got a hint of the kind of mayhem that can occur on I-70 last week with major accidents on successive days. On Wednesday, a motorist attempting to make a U-turn on an access road in Clay County between the east- and west-bound lanes triggered collisions that resulted in serious injuries to the driver. It was much worse the next day, when a semi driver struck the rear of another truck while entering a construction zone just east of the Indiana 46 interchange on Terre Haute’s east side. Two people died in that fiery crash and traffic was stalled for hours.
Those who travel I-70 — and that includes most of us — are well aware of the dangers that exist on such a major thoroughfare. The slightest distraction or inattention by a driver can have immediate and disastrous consequences. Traffic is just too heavy and moves too fast to offer much mercy to travelers who sometimes find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Construction zones do nothing but complicate the traffic flow and make conditions worse.
If you plan to travel by vehicle this week and during the coming road construction season, you do have options. The best is to avoid I-70. If that’s not possible, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings when you’re on the interstate. Observe all zone instructions and speed limits. Be courteous with those in vehicles around you. Report impaired drivers to police. Be cautious at all times. When in doubt, slow down.
We hope the destructive incidents that occurred in our area last week do not repeat themselves this summer. But we fear the worst. The dangers and risks are high.
Don’t be part of the problem. Be careful out there.
Buckle up … for safety
While we’re on the subject of highway safety, it’s worth noting that police in Indiana have stepped up efforts to enforce wearing seat belts heading into the Memorial Day weekend.
The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute says more than 250 law enforcement agencies throughout the state are conducting special patrols to identify and ticket unrestrained motorists.
Why bother with such matters? The answer is in the statistics. Institute Traffic Safety Director Ryan Klitzsch says last year more than 1,000 people were ejected from their vehicles in accidents in Indiana.
In 2010, 52 percent of all occupants killed in crashes in Indiana were not wearing seat belts.
The campaign began on Friday and runs through June 3.
Do your part. Wear your seat belts.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Hazards of the spring abundant now on I-70
Deadly week on freeway alerts travelers to dangers
- Editorials
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
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Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
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