Desert Messenger

28 www.DesertMessenger.com January 19, 2022 too much junk? CLEAN OUT THAT GARAGE List your items in Desert Messenger CLASSIFIEDS Email Editor@DesertMessenger.com or CALL RAIN @ 928-916-4235 LIFE OR DEATH ON HWY. 95 OR "WHO DO I KILL TO- NIGHT?" The terrible decision forced by unthinking people. A few nights ago out on Highway 95, a Quartzsite winter resident faced the awful decision of who he had to kill in the next few seconds. This is his story, written that evening, in his own words: Tonight, Wednesday, December 22, a bit after dark, I and my wife head- ed in towards downtown from La Posa South in my RAM pickup. As I pulled onto the highway, I noticed that there was other northbound traffi c a ways, back, so I accelerated on up to the speed limit, so as to not needlessly be in their way, assum- ing they were coming at or near the posted upper limit of 55 MPH. Since there was a fair amount of south- bound oncoming traffi c, my headlights were of course, on low beam. Not too long after getting up to 55 MPH, my wife and I simultaneously saw right in front of us in my traffi c lane what looked like two bicycles pedaling along side by side and I had close-in oncoming traffi c with no way to get even slowed down in time to avoid hitting them. The one well into the traffi c lane was a tri- cycle. The other was closer to the white line. Again they were riding side by side, taking up the greater percentage of the traffi c land, per- haps talking with each other. Again, it was after dark and they weren't lit enough to be seen in time to avoid them. And there was oncoming traf- fi c just about there. It looked like someone was go- ing to die and nothing I could do about it, except to select who it was going to be. If I broke right, I would probably hit the one in the center of the lane and certainly the one on the right because they were RIGHT THERE and I was moving at 55 MPH. If I broke left, I'd slam head on into the vehicle coming at me at 55 MPH. 55 + 55 = 110 MPH – Everybody in both vehicles would probably die and also the bikers as well, as head on- crashes throw vehicle pieces all over. At the last fraction of a second, the oncoming driver saw them and dove to his right allowing me to dive into part of his lane and just scrape by the bicycle furthest out in my lane. Both of our vehicles took a 110 MPH mirror-to-mirror crash, trashing both left hand mirrors and putting a few small dents in our trucks. I took some fl ying glass through my open window into the side of my face; the other driver fortunately had his window up, so he didn't get cut up. As soon as I could get stopped I hit my emergency and traffi c signal lights (volunteer fi re fi ghter) and went back to see if the cyclists had gotten hit. They hadn't, so I then asked the two obviously brain-dead individu- als what the %$^#& they were doing riding down the traffi c land of a 55 MPH highway at night without even a bright light shining behind them. Their excuse was it was too hard to ride on the side of the road. My lan- guage after that wasn't overly polite, I'm afraid. Blood was running down my face and I was more than a little bit upset, and I may have looked somewhat dangerous at that time. I pulled off the road to further as- sess the damage and to stop the "red stuff" leak and start patching up my face. Soon the other driver involved turned around and came back to check on us and the bikers. He also seemed fairly shook up. Remem- ber we both just barely avoided an almost guaranteed 100% fatal, 110 MPH head-on crash. If he hadn't been able to see the bikes in time to veer off to the right (thereby taking a chance on fatally rolling his own vehicle) he, my wife and I would –in all likelihood- died that night, right then and there. He couldn't have known that in that fraction of a second, I'd de- cided to hit the cyclists instead, certainly at 55 MPH killing one or both, rather than take the 110 MPH crash and killing everyone in both vehicles. After all, the other set of headlights coming could have been a van with a big family in it. I speak from experience as a former EMT of an ambulance service on a ma- jor interstate. I've pulled too many deceased families out of vehicles involved in fairly high-speed crash- es. We all were taught in defensive driving, "If you are going to have to crash, always hit the softest one." Bicyclists are considerably softer than full sized vehicles. A friend of mine from La Posa South –who had been a bit be- hind me- came back to the scene and indicated that he followed the bikes into town and dropped away from them when they got on the bridge. I truly hope they learned something about common sense tonight. Perhaps when they read this, they may recognize how close they came to being "unfortunate roadkill" tonight. Please folks, unless and until the state, the county or town decides to put a smooth level sidewalk/bike path in from the LTVAs or the 14- day areas, PLEASE don't mix 55 MPH vehicle traffi c and the approx- imately 4-15 MPH traffi c of bicycles. Granted, it may take several deaths until the town acts to put in a side- walk/bike path in slightly outside the highway right-of-way, but it re- ally shouldn't, as the town has made the voluntary choice to annex all the way out to La Posa South, thereby taking upon itself the responsibility of pedestrian/traffi c safety just like any other portion of Highway 95 where it comes through the heart of town. I guess we'll see. With an- nexation comes responsibility. Meanwhile… Surely your lives are WORTH the time and effort to fi nd a ride, or the extra effort it would take to ride the very unoffi cial ATV track on the west side of the road if you must ride into town on your bi- cycles, especially at night. Several folks' Christmas was just about totally ruined tonight. Mine- no matter what decision I had made- and all the families con- cerned. Please think about that. I'm convinced a few Angels were hard at work tonight. And I seri- ously appreciate it. I will forever be grateful. BUT LET'S NOT DEPEND on them to do it again! Merry Christmas (or Happy Hol- idays if that's your preference) Let's all hope for a good and safer New Year. Dave Jeffi res, La Posa South, Quartzsite, AZ and New Underwood, SD Opinions expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily represent those of the Desert Messenger. cessarily re Messenger. cessarily represent Messenger. present letters to the editor THANK YOU Thank you to all the people who donated to the Quartzsite Metal Detecting Club (QMDC) Super Coin Hunt: Beer Belly's, Bradley Yard Art, Country Yard Art, Coyote Fresh Foods, Dave Harris, Dennis Kahrs, Dr. Cole Chiropractic, Gary Peck, Henry's Antiques, KB Tools, K & K Kitchen, J & D Walling- ford, Larry Beasley, Larry Green, Linda Taylor, Lloyd McComb, Main Street Eatery, Miners Depot, Minelab, Newport Gifts, Paleo En- terprises, Patty Keebler, QMDC, Quartzsite Beauty Salon, Ron Cole- man, RV Lifestyles, Silly Al's Pizza, Tom Warren, and Yoders. Thank You, Joe Wallingford, President Quartzsite Metal Detecting Club

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