Jed & Lori + 4

I've been conducting a little social experiment for the last few days. I'm not surprised at the findings. I guess I knew deep in my heart what the outcome would be.

Here's the scoop. There is an overpass in American Fork that crosses over I-15 that is being completely re-done. Bigger, Better, The Works. Once the new one is built the old one will be torn down. Most of the construction up until a few weeks ago consisted of contructing the new on and off ramps on either side of the freeway. Thus, not a lot of downtime for the hoards of people speeding down the freeway. A couple of weeks ago on my Monday morning commute, I beheld the dreaded "Work Zone", "Reduced Speed", "Fines Double for Speeding" signs staring me in the face. Not just a couple of signs mind you. A LOT OF SIGNS! And oh yeah, the lanes had been changed so that they are narrower and you now have to swing over to the right a bit. Hopefully you get the idea. Lots of sinage+ Lots of changes to the road=Stupid Drivers.

My experiment was to see if in fact anyone really pays attention to such warnings. For the last few mornings on my way to work, I have slowed down to 55 mph as the signs asked me to do and I moved over to the middle lane if I wasn't there already. Immediately upon doing this it is as if I am parting the Red Sea as car after car moves over to the lanes on the right or left of me at the exact same speed in which they entered the work zones.
Seriously folks, in several days of doing this, I have not seen one person slow down from their 75-80+ mph speeds in acknowledgment of the signs posted. Now I will be the first to admit that I am a bit of a speed demon. But when faced with the reality of double fines and the very real possibility of endangering the construction workers as well as other vehicles on the road because of the changes to said road, I usually slow it down. What is wrong with everyone else? I so wish the UHP would stake out this nice little section of real estate and nail every one who speeds on through!

In a related side note. At lunch the other day, we got talking about our commutes. One guy said he is more worried about lost time than paying fines for speeding tickets. Because I have expeience with this, I asked him what he will do when he looses his license because he has too many traffic violations. No worries he said...he has a good eye and usually always spots the law before they spot him. So it won't happen to him. Does that sound really naive or what? I guess I must be getting older, because this does not sit well with me. It really IRKS me that people have so little regard for others on the road and put them at risk due to their stupidity.