Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

Too many tragedies on rural byways

WE CAN EITHER SLOW DOWN OR FLATTEN THE PAVEMENT

By Tom Eblen

HERALD-LEADER COLUMNIST

Tom Eblen | Staff

A yellow ribbon, flowers and two white crosses marked the spot where Paul Laurence Dunbar High School student Hannah Landers, 17, and Ben Thompson, 22, of Wilmore died in a crash while joy riding. Photo by Tom Eblen | Staff

Dunbar student one of two killed in wreck

Sign a guest book for Hannah Landers

When I heard about the crash on the "roller coaster road" that killed two young people, I thought: Oh, no. Not again.

I've been driving Dry Ridge Road in Woodford County for more than 30 years, usually while squeezing the steering wheel and hoping somebody wouldn't pop over a hill and hit me head-on.

At least 10 people have died in five accidents on that 3-mile ribbon of pavement since 1984, according to the Herald-Leader archives.

My first thought: Something should be done about that road.

My second thought: The road isn't the problem.

I drove out there Thursday morning, just after the daily parade of commuters who use Dry Ridge as a shortcut from south Lexington to the Bluegrass Parkway and Frankfort.

Friends of Hannah Landers, 17, a Dunbar High School senior, and Ben Thompson, 22, of Wilmore, had put up two white crosses to remember them. The crosses were in front of a big, skinned-up tree at the end of muddy skid marks. It was where the 2007 Suzuki Reno carrying them and two other young people crashed late Monday morning.

The four apparently had gone joy riding on Dry Ridge Road, where if you drive too fast you can leave the pavement for a few seconds -- or forever.

There were two bouquets of flowers, and a yellow ribbon was tied around the tree. On the ground beside the tree was a journal, wet from rain. It had a few pictures of the smiling young people, sweet notes and many pages that will never be filled.

The memorial is less than a mile from four other white crosses. They are nailed to a tree where a van crashed in September 1999, killing three tobacco workers and a 5-year-old boy. Speed and alcohol were factors in that crash.

As Kentucky country roads go, Dry Ridge is in good shape -- 20 feet wide with solid grass shoulders. It was resurfaced and restriped two years ago, and 45 mph speed-limit signs are posted in several places.

"If you drive the speed limit, it's a pretty safe road," said Buan Smith, Woodford County's highway engineer. "But people drive quite fast. You can see where they've bottomed out jumping some of the hills."

Wilbur Hill has lived and farmed on Dry Ridge Road since 1944. He agrees it's a good road. But he has seen a lot of tragedy.

"My son pulled some girls out of a car one time at the same tree where those kids were killed," Hill said. "We had another young man got killed just beyond our driveway, about 20 years ago. My boys were out that night, and it scared me to death."

While he sees occasional joy riders -- "The kids get reckless and like to get airborne" -- he is more concerned about the commuters who zip by every morning and evening, going 10 or 20 mph over the speed limit and paying little attention to the double yellow line.

"It's the same cars every day," he said. "People aren't careful enough; they don't anticipate the curves and hills. They've posted the speed limit several places, but that doesn't slow them down."

Kentuckians love their blacktop. Usually, our first reaction to a tragic wreck is to say the road needs to be wider, flatter, straighter. We're always eager to four-lane the most scenic of rural roads, whether it needs it or not.

There are more sensible reactions.

We could warn our kids about the dangers of joy riding. Still, the smartest kids will do the dumbest things. Always have, always will.

But teenagers aren't the main problem.

Kentuckians of all ages drive too fast on country roads that were designed a century or two ago for horses and wagons, not Dodge Ram pickups and Escalades.

Rural roads should be well-built and maintained, just as Dry Ridge Road is.

Beyond that, we have two choices: We can spend all of our resources flattening, straightening and four-laning Kentucky into asphalt ugliness. Or we can slow down and be more careful.

Something should be done, and I think you know what it is.

Bluegrass country roads were built for horses and wagons, not high-speed vehicles