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The title of this article is not a metaphor or a play on words. It is simply what it says. It amazes me just how many people don’t know simple traffic laws. Take the square for example. It is a square that is made up entirely of one-way streets. A driver cannot turn left on the square, yet I have seen drivers attempt it.
Now, I understand not being from Madill and not knowing it is a oneway square. However, there are traffic indicators to let the driver know the traffic laws, and they have been in place for years. By indicators, I mean stop lights, stop signs, yield signs and the like.
One might ask how a stop sign will let the driver know that the street is one-way. Well, that is when the striping comes in handy. If you are on a road with white stripes in the middle, that is a one-way. A yellow line in the middle indicates a two-way.
Another thing I have noticed is drivers passing other cars in a no passing zone, like on the Willis Bridge. A no passing zone is marked with a double yellow line. If the lane has a dotted double line, it means both sides can pass when it is safe. If the lane has a dotted line next to a solid line, that means the side with the dotted lines can pass when it is safe.
I know it may seem like I am being overdramatic, but alas, I am not. The State of Oklahoma Highway Safety Office conducts a yearly analysis on car crashes. In 2018, the state of Oklahoma had over 71,000 reported accidents. Of those crashes, over 600 were fatalities, and over 2,000 were incapacitating accidents. That means almost 3,000 people were either killed or maimed.
Even though Marshall County’s numbers are a tad lower, it doesn’t make it any less critical. For the same year frame, there were over 200 crashes in Marshall County. Of those crashes, there were eight fatalities and 15 incapacitating accidents. I know it seems like a small number, but 23 people either lost their lives, or their quality of life because one person made a wrong split-second decision. That does not include the number of family members impacted by those numbers.
I say this to ask everybody, please pay attention to the road signs, and be aware of your surroundings.