hmm...this is my first time writing for this, so sorry if it's a bit...not up to par.
Anyways...about two days ago, someone from my school got killed when a car hit him while he was riding his bike. Although I only talked to him maybe...once in my entire life, it's still really hard to have this news sink in. Not only was his death preventable, but it brought up the question, why hasn't our county's government done anything to change this? Travailah Road is travelled on by a lot of people, and this is not the first death to occur along that road. About two years ago, or so, another boy had been killed on the same road from a hit and drive incident. You'd think that the county would have done something to help make the road safer, but they've only built sidewalks that don't even connect to eachother...rendering them useless.
The road is so narrow, that once the sidewalk ends, or changes abrutly to the other side, people are basically forced to walk or ride their bikes extremely close to the road. It makes it so easy for cars to just ram into them, causing many deaths that could've been prevented. It just frustrates me so much that the county isn't willing to "waste" money on saving children's lives. Isn't two deaths along the same road enough to send out a message that perhaps they need to make a wide bike path, and link all the sidewalks together in order to ensure some amount of safety to those who walk and bike?? Why haven't they don't anything yet?
I know that people are starting to petition, but I believe that more people need to know about these kinds of situations that go on. It's probably not just occuring where I live, but in many other areas. It's not fair to those families and friends of the people who die to have to lose them in such a way. Knowing full well that their government could have done something to prevent these tragedies from happening. Is it fair to these young people who are on the brink of adulthood...so close to graduating? No it isn't! They have so much to look forward to, so much potential, and it's all gone in the blink of an eye....just because no one was willing to pay money in order to make the roads safer.
Also, the law that it is illegal to bike on sidewalks...what is the point of that? Is it telling people "Hey, we'd rather you die or attempt to ride in these little 'paths' that we've made for you!" It's so useless. Path lanes near my neighborhood constantly switch abruptly. Meaning the biker has to bike over one or two car lanes to get back into the bike lane. Is that worth it? Cars can easily smash into these bikers, and kill them. I think the government should work on making these paths safer for everyone.
Life isn't something you can just toss aside. What happens if it happens to them one day? Will it have to go to that point that a government official loses someone due to a car crashing into them while they were walking along a narrow road with no sidewalk to finally allow a change to come in? It's not worth all these innocent lives. I think something needs to be done. Soon.
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