My trip down to Vegas took me through Utah. There were some things that jumped out at me as worthy of note:
They’re combating Fatigued Driving in a constructive way. This is an issue that’s important to me because back when I was a full-time college student and had a full-time job and was writing at one paper and editing another, I got into two of these. I have also long worried about the hours my wife has worked and works and the toll it takes on her alertness. Anyhow, they have designated turn-off spots for fatigued drivers. This is good because if you are tired and pull over, you never know if you’re going to get ticketed (especially in a place that craves order like Utah). Letting you know it’s okay to do so, and where, is immensely helpful.
A good public/private partnership. In addition to public rest areas, they have also apparently worked things out with some way stations wherein they double as public rest areas. I guess the state pays these places some money and in return the restrooms are public, well-kept, and you won’t get hassled for loitering. This is an all-around win and I prefer these places to the actual rest areas and regular gas stations because if I want to buy something, I can (more than at a public rest stop), but I feel under no obligation to (as I do at a gas station).
Petting zoos. How family-friendly is Utah? Family-friendly enough that one of the gas stations had a petting zoo attached. With zebras.
Utah has 80mph speed limits. The signs all let us know that it’s experimental. They’re also heavily enforced. I’m not sure if that’s because of concern that drivers will take that as a license to go over 100 or because drivers already have. The end result is that on the way back, when the speed limit was 75 I drove 80 and when the speed limit was 80 I drove 80. Still, it’s a start.
I’d have a lingering concern about crime in the pull-over-and-rest areas, but I agree that it’s a very good thing to give a motorist a place to rest for a while rather than let them drive while asleep. You make it sound as if the UHP has a pretty heavy presence.
Did the pull over and rest all the time as a kid on the annual summer trip from the mid-Atlantic to northern New England/Atlantic Canada in the crime filled 70’s and 80’s with nary a problem.
When I lived in San Diego, I had to visit a client in L.A. about every other week. I would often begin the 130 mile return journey at midnite or one in the morning, and I once ended up on a town 60 miles to the east (rather than south) without awareness or remembering a single thing about the journey.
Once, when driving back to San Diego, I was so tired, that I repeatedly found myself drifting into adjacent lanes; so I pulled off the freeway, and caught a little shut-eye on the bank of a field. A California Highway Patrol stopped and woke me up: I explained that I thought I was too tired to drive safely, and that 20 minutes of shut-eye was probably sufficient for me to regain nominal driving ability.
To my surprise, the cop was unsympathetic. He told me to get back on the freeway immediately, or he would physically arrest me for loitering, and for disobeying the direction of a police officer. So he sent me on my way, drifting from lane to lane, until a got to a town where I could rent a hotel room.
So, Utah seems positively visionary, by comparison.
Burt, There are some parts of the country where I might be worried about it, but rural Utah isn’t one of them. With or without police, really. I don’t think I would worry about it out here, either.
Snarky, with more information coming out about fatigued driving, is there any chance that you might get a different response today?
Will –
I honestly believe that the California Highway Patrol does not have new knowledge about the driving under fatigue that they didn’t have in 1986. That makes me doubly impressed that Utah evolved an acual reasonable policy response to it.
I mostly have bad memories of driving through Utah–maybe things have changed for the better since the early ’90s.
I’m glad to read about the public/private partnerships on rest areas. I’ve long thought this was a good idea that’s underutilized. Ohio’s toll road has service plazas where they have several food joints (and, of course, a gift shop) under one roof, a pretty good start, but I always thought the companies operating there ought to have as part of their contract that they also have to maintain a public picnic area with a small playground.
Bad memories how? The drivers in Utah leave a lot to be desired. Construction was pretty bad. The wind was almost unbearable on the drive down.
I know the guy who owns the gas station where that petting zoo is in Scipio. He owns a big station in Beaver and is their Mayor. He’s also the golf coach there in Beaver. Awesome guy.
In much the same way Silicon Valley had computers as their principal industry, Utah County (Provo) has road construction as their principal industry. That and apparently it is a magnet for some of the worst diving I have ever witnessed.
But most importantly, do you think the I-15 Virgin River Gorge stretch is some of the most awesome landscape you’ve ever seen? Or is it just my 30 years as an Iowa flatlander that makes that 20 mile stretch so damned amazing even though I’ve lived in St. George, UT for 7 years now?
That there was beautiful country. Of course, I was also a flatlander growing up.
I stopped in St. George*, actually. Ate at the In-And-Out. That was a mistake that cost me about 45-minutes.
* – You live there? What possible excuse do you have for not being at Leaguefest?!?!
Yes, exit 10 in Washington, UT. Green Springs Drive and Telegraph. Not one of our finest features in terms of efficiency. Bad intersection by that In-n-Out.
Honestly, if I were a more frequent commenter and a more considerate commenter, I’d have probably tried harder to be there. But I felt like I’d have just been a stalker/groupie at the thing. Having nothing substantive to add to any conversation save some vulgar snark. Like desperate intellectual tourettes syndrome. And…I am a golf professional. Our business tends to be busiest around the holidays. So Memorial Day weekend was kind of a tough one from which to escape. And…my wife has been in France for two weeks which has left me to care for two ugly monkeys that would have burned the house down / killed each other without some periodic supervision.
Seriously, you all were better off without me. I’d have been like the crazy uncle at a family reunion.