I fear Michigan’s unsafe roads not only for myself, but for my children and grandchildren. I worry about how our children will handle the bad pavement as school lets out. How can our kids ride on these unsafe roads?
Our roads are unsafe at any speed.
I have had the following damage and scares from from hitting pot holes on our lousy roads:
* Blown tires and bent rims
* My front end replaced
* Drivers veering into my lane
* Bounced down the road as the pavement heaved in endless ripples
What does this have to do with children and grandchildren? Because the damage I am talking about happened to my bicycle as I traveled on Michigan’s bumpy damaged roads since last fall.
It is down right frightening to slam into a pothole with a rut that seems as deep as the Grand Canyon at 70 miles per hour. Let me assure you it is just as frightening to attempt to dodge, or God forbid, hit a pothole on your bike doing 20 miles per hour.
Besides the dangerous potholes encountered while riding a bike there is an equal fear as you go under bridges with wire mesh and/or plywood holding back broken concrete.
It is as doubly annoying and disconcerting to hit waves of raised payment that is like a continuous ripple or unending speed bumps that have you clinching your teeth and holding onto your handlebars ever so tightly — fearing you will be the bounced clean off of your bike.
Teenage Waste Land
Now, imagine your young teenager zipping around town on their bike, ear buds in, music blasting and encountering these road hazards. Frightening right.
Think about grandma giving the little tyke a bike ride in the child’s bike seat and BAM! You slam into a pothole and the bike tumbles North, you head East, and the grand-baby skids South.
Our roads are unforgiving enough in a 4X4 pickup ruck — they can be deadly on a bicycle.
Want to reduce the risk to your kids? Vote YES on Proposal 1
What will Proposal 1 do?
* Increase funds for roads by $1.2 billion
* Raise the sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar
— From current 6 cents to 7 cents
— Use that to offset the end of sales tax on gasoline
* Reduce impact of that sales tax increase by increasing earned income tax credit giving a tax break to the working poor
* Provide $300 million to fund neighborhood schools, making up for prior cuts
* Provide $100 million for local units of government to hire first responders (police and fire fighters)
All these investments protect our families and add value to our communities.
It is sensible to fear the rut, Michigan’s roads are unsafe–there is no debating this fact.
Vote YES to fix Michigan’s embarrassingly lousy, crumbling, and unsafe roads — if not for yourself, then for your children and grandchildren.
Is your baby worth the investment Proposal 1 is asking of you?
For more information go to: www.saferoadsyes.com
Tom Watkins is a former state superintendent of schools and state mental health director. He can be reached at: tdwatkins88@gmail.com or follow on twitter: @tdwatkins88.
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