Easy Fixes Ignored There’s a bridge over the Boardman River on the bike path in Traverse City where teenagers enjoy jumping into the water nearly every day in the summer. They climb eight feet or so up the framework and make the leap of perhaps 20-25 feet into the river. It looks like a lot of fun, but some kids report touching the bottom of the riverbed in their leaps and I’m always tempted to say, “Kids, remember, if you get killed doing that, you’ll be dead for a mighty long time.� Teens make a leap of faith that they won't But that would be a buzz-kill, and like get hurt. I say, it looks like a lot of fun. Kind of like a 7-Up commercial with a lot of yahoo energy. cussion and planning went into Still, you have to wonder: “fixing� the disastrous intersecat what point does some teention of the bike path at Diviager break his neck diving, or sion and Grandview Parkway slip and fall over backwards and on West Bay in TC. Yet there crack her skull on the bridge? are still daily confrontations If we had a society that valbetween motorists and cyclists ued personal freedom above all at that intersection, which reelse, we’d simply say that the mains a deadly hazard, despite loss of a life is a small price to all of the signs, “walk� buttons pay for being able to do your and flags meant to catch the atown thing. tention of irritated and confused But we don’t really value drivers, some of whom tend to personal freedom all that much shift into road-rage mode. And in America -- we just give it lip b y r o b e r t d o w n e s you can bet there are plenty of service. In fact, we have a litipissed-off cyclists, runners and gious society, and one can imagroller bladers there too who are ine that any parent whose child dies on that frustrated in their roles as moving targets. bridge won’t be blaming their kid for his or Again, there’s an easy fix: Dig a pedesher reckless behavior; they’ll be wondering trian tunnel under the highway. Use some of why the City or TART Trails maintained Obama’s stimulus money and get ‘er done. such an obvious public hazard, and what If every member of TART Trails brought a lawyer to call in the yellow pages. shovel down to the bay, we could dig it ourTeenagers aren't the brightest bunch selves in an afternoon, just like immigrant when it comes to personal safety. Science laborers used to dig basements years ago. tells us that an area of the brain that governs Easy fixes -- why are they so often igjudgement is not yet fully developed in teen- nored? Lack of imagination. agers, which accounts for why society has an Consider the State’s ballyhooed law obligation to protect them. against texting while you’re driving. This I recall diving off a cliff overhanging a has all of the efficacy of using a wet Kleenex gravel pit lake in Northville many years ago, for a parachute. Why not require automakwhich was a huge hit with all of the kids. ers and cell phone manufacturers to create But there were steel rebar spikes embedded systems that would automatically shut down in concrete slabs deep underwater which texting and web-surfing whenever anyone gave a friend a good gash in the head (lucky enters a vehicle? In fact, this technology alhe didn’t poke his brains out); and one time ready exists with parental controls to limit I saw a young guy dive 20 feet through the texting and “sexting� on their kids’ phones. donut of an inner tube. Amazing he didn’t According to the U.S. Department of break his neck -- a matter of inches. Transportation, an estimated 812,000 perThe funny thing is, so many hazards are sons are using a cell phone at any given moeasily fixed long before anyone gets hurt or ment while driving. Cell phone distractions there’s a lawsuit. At the TART Trail bridge, caused 600,000 accidents last year, along for instance, a simple overhanging buttress with 330,000 injuries and 3,000 deaths. similar to those used to keep squirrels out of That's more deaths than those killed in bird feeders would keep the kids from climb- the collapse of the Twin Towers in 9/11 -ing to the top. Or, for a $20 bucket of tar and 3,000 people dead as the result of texting a crate of broken beer bottles, one could cre- every year -- year after year. ate the kind of cheap fix that keeps people All of those people would be alive today from climbing walls in Central America. if we simply had the imagination to require Speaking of TART, several years of dis- an easy fix for a serious problem.
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Wednesday, July 14, 6:30 PM Holiday Inn 615 East Front Street Traverse City, MI 49686
The Twisted Fish Gallery Presents:
“A Visual Feastâ€? by Traverse City’s ďŹ rst liquid nitrogen Ice Cream CafĂŠ
GRAND OPENING JULY 13 • Full service coffee and tea bar • Sushi & Tapas Menu • Fresh baked bread & pastries • Outdoor seating • Delicious Desserts • Open at 6:30 AM • We scoop Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream too!
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M ARGARET & WILLIAM WHITE A RTISTS’ RECEPTION F RIDAY, JULY 16 • 6-8PM Exhibit runs through August 8 10443 S. Bayshore Dr. Elk Rapids at Rt. 31 231.264.0123 twistedďŹ shart.com
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thefreezetc.com 415 Cass St TC • 231.929.4302 Northern Express Weekly • July 12, 2010 • 11