Slow down, Dickinson

News of a fatal crash in Dickinson city limits last week came as a shock.

However, it also sparked needed conversations across the region about traveling in town and how a growing number of drivers are not taking precautions.

Someone shouldn’t have to die to open people’s eyes. But someone did.

Adam Horack, 17, of Dickinson, was killed in a three-vehicle accident after driving his Pontiac through a red light on Highway 22 in Dickinson Thursday morning. The speed limit in the area is 25 mph. It is not clear if his car was going the speed limit.

As the story unfolded, residents in businesses and homes across town shared stories of incidents that scared them. Someone put them in a bad situation and drivers are expelling that lack of courtesy on roads in the Dickinson area lately.

One woman said she was at a stoplight waiting to turn left, when a truck went into the oncoming lane of traffic to turn left around her.

Semi drivers are pulling onto the roads in front of vehicles, likely because if they don’t, they will never get to their destinations.

Crosswalks, what are those?

A yellow light no longer exists in many people’s minds. Yellow means go. Red means go super-fast if you think there is time to get across.

Dickinson is not designed to handle the number of people, thus vehicles that are filling up the city. There are not, and could never be, enough officers to handle the influx of vehicles.

Snow and ice are right around the corner too.

A fatality in city limits is unbelievable. How can this happen?

Dickinson and all of western North Dakota are in the middle of the modern-day gold rush. Rush is exactly right — everyone running around in a hurry to be here or there. Slow down. Show a little courtesy.

We’ve got to be patient.

Tags: opinion, editorials, transportation