Voice of the people

Take highway safety seriously

Getting on our highways today is a lot like entering a cage full of tigers. We've got people failing to leave home with enough time to reach their destination without speeding. Then there are kids who see 120 mph on the speedometer as a license to go that fast.

Rather than keeping their eyes on the road, people are eating, drinking coffee, talking on the phone, playing with gadgets such as GPS navigators, iPods and even notebook computers, or they're combing their hair, putting on makeup and, yes, reading the morning paper. Someone could be reading this while driving right now.

Add to that the drunks, people taking legal and or illegal drugs, and last but not least, old folks such as myself, and you've got a prescription for disaster.

Given all of that, it is no wonder more than 40,000 people lose ability to fog a mirror on our highways every year. Imagine what the headlines would be if that many of our brave sons and daughters died in Iraq! But for some reason, the deaths of the equivalent of a small town barely makes a ripple in the shallow ocean of our mainstream media. Well, I, for one, believe this should be publicized daily -- in big headlines.

While the high cost of gas might just thin the herd a little, this old World War veteran thinks we'll still have too many young people paying the ultimate price right here at home. Maybe if we could get Ralph Nader to stop dreaming about the White House, we could get him back on the job of making our highways safe. How about it, Ralph?

H.F. Wilmer

Huntington

Brick streets are worth considering

In regards to the recent letter "City should return to brick streets," at first blush I didn't take it seriously, but after giving it some thought, it sounds more and more plausible. I noted that a few streets in the Beverly Hills area have brick streets that are beautifully kept and well-maintained (what little maintenance I imagine there is). And I know they had to be put down more than 10-15 years ago. Also, Huntington's South Side has a few brick streets, and although showing their age a bit more, they still don't appear to require the same maintenance as asphalt.

I know this all sounds a little "out there," but we're talking about a one-time investment that appears to indeed last a lifetime. And with new technology, who knows what replacement of asphalt streets with bricks would cost today? I think it's an inviting idea worth looking into.

Matt Colker

Huntington