Brooks Judd: What will it take to make 120 bypass safer?
It happened again, another fatality on the 120 Manteca bypass. I am sure some department is in charge of maintaining this bloody stretch of road and is trying desperately to find a solution to make it safer. But what is being done? Caltrans will often place huge flashing signs that reads, “Prepare to Slow Down” but that only works for the 75 percent of drivers who are paying attention. If all drivers paid attention the problem could be taken care of, but that’s not going to happen. There are just too many drivers going too fast and paying too much attention to something other than the road. We will have to rely on “someone else” to think for them.
The speed limit should be lowered to 50 mph on the 120 bypass. The CHP should be onsite writing tickets. All the money from the tickets should be earmarked for concerted efforts to make this road safer. It might be a good idea to lay down speed bumps to slow those drivers who are not paying attention.
Is it going to take a school bus filled with children being smashed into by a semi to get this problem taken care of? The clock is ticking.
Brooks Judd, Turlock
This story was originally published June 8, 2015 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Brooks Judd: What will it take to make 120 bypass safer?."