I’ve noticed a number of motorists driving so that the passenger-side wheels cruise on the white line, or worse, over onto the shoulder. I live in the north Animas Valley, and one morning I observed the northbound traffic for five minutes, during which I counted – seriously – 18 vehicles engaged in white-line or shoulder driving. Did they repeal the stay-in-your-lane rule without telling anyone? Sign me, Valley Girl (actually Valley Old Lady)
Perhaps this is a reaction to all the accidents involving people who drifted over the center line.
These days, you just don’t know who is drunk, stoned, sleep-deprived or have some pathological urge to text at 65 mph.
Driving on the white line or shoulder would seem to offer additional room to react. Or does it?
It certainly puts a motorist closer to deer and elk that leap into the highway without warning.
And wandering wildlife poses as much if not more of a safety hazard than incapacitated or inattentive fellow motorists.
Regardless, the state’s official Colorado Driver Handbook minces no words: “Drive just to the right of the center of the road. Do not drive on the shoulder of the road.”
This was confirmed by the ultimate authority on matters of vehicular traffic, our good friend Nancy Shanks, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
“Driving on the white line? That’s bizarre,” Nancy said.
“Especially since northbound Animas Valley traffic will soon be heading into the mountains, where white lines can be nonexistent.”
And shoulders? That scrawny model Kate Moss has wider shoulders than Red Mountain.
Meanwhile, back in the Animas Valley, Nancy pointed out that CDOT goes to great lengths to provide motorists with well-marked 12-foot-wide lanes.
“We even spend extra for two-color printing,” she said with a chuckle.
“White painted on the left and yellow in the center – it’s color-coded, kind of like Garanimals for driving.”
So if your inner child feels the need to go outside the lines, limit this to coloring books and not the highway.
I’m so annoyed by people wearing black at night and walking or biking in the road with their backs toward traffic not having lights or reflectors. I nearly ran over a person the other night. Why do Durangoans go out of their way to not be seen? – RMB
In a town awash in conspicuous consumption, it boggles the mind that many residents strive to be invisible.
Just the other evening, Mrs. Action very nearly stuck some dude walking in the East Third Avenue bike line, wearing a dark hoody pulled up, dark pants and sneakers without reflectors.
Fortunately, disaster was averted.
But if there were a vehicle-pedestrian interaction, the vehicle is almost always the one at fault, despite the pedestrian dressing like a ninja.
It could also be chalked up to Durango’s bizarre taste in fashion.
Wearing black fleece allows one to display even more dog hair.
Either that, or black is the new orange.
H H H
The Mea Culpa Mailbag often shows Action Line’s seat-of-the-pants style. That was obvious in a recent column referring to a “serious breech of manners.”
In hindsight, that mistake didn’t sit well with our good friend John Parker, who gets to the bottom line.
“Most journalists would call your recent column reference to a ‘breech of manners’ a ‘breach’ of same, possible rarity of copy editors or dictionaries in some newsrooms notwithstanding.”
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you’ve purchased your Thanksgiving turkey, located the snow shovel in the garage and wrapped all the Christmas gifts you bought in July.
