A Tragedy

And A Cancellation...


I just got a phone call bearing some bad news about this weekend's Chili Cookoff.

We have to cancel our participation.

I was a bit shocked at first, but then when I understood the reason for the conflict I totally agreed with John's decision.

Josh, one of the chefs from Blackwater Grill was fatally injured in a head-on auto accident on the causeway connecting our little island to the mainland on Monday afternoon, and the funeral will be held early Saturday afternoon in Albany, Ga.

Rightfully so, John and most of the Blackwater staff--including Josh's fiancee--will be in attendance and have to make the eight hour round trip drive.

Realizing that there is no way I could pull things off by myself in my currently diminished physical condition, John had no choice but to pull out of the competition.

Here's a link to today's Brunswick News story about the ongoing hysterical situation on the causeway. That said , let me toss in my own two cents worth of commentary, with all due respect to Josh's recent demise.

For those not familiar with access to St. Simons Island, we have been connected to the mainland via the four mile long F.J. Torras Causeway since 1924. The first version of the road was a two lane design with a draw bridge installed after WWII to accommodate the new Intercoastal Waterway.

The two lane design survived until the late 1980's when the Causeway was enlarged and widened to four lanes, including a bicycle lane and a wide span high bay bridge to eliminate the Drawbridge at the relocated intercoastal channel location. Originally a toll road, the toll booths were shut down in the early 2000's and dismantled in 2006.

Now here's where the problem comes in.

The speed limit on the causeway has always been 50 MPH or less since it's inception.

In reality, however, actual traffic flow usually moves somewhere in the 55 to 60 MPH range, with many assholes self-important drivers electing to run closer to 70 MPH much of the time.

Local perception, as emotional as it is, considers the road to be a ticking time bomb because we manage to kill and maim about one or two drivers a month in near head on collisions.

The state DOT just completed a pseudo-widening project last year that added a center buffer lane at the expense of narrowing the existing four traffic lanes and shoulders by about a foot each.

As things are now, if you have mechanical trouble on one of the bridges there is hardly room to pull your car off the road, out of the traffic flow.

And still there is endless screaming that the only way to "FIX" the safety of the Causeway is to add a concrete barrier down the center, something DOT has thus far said is impossible because of lack of room on the bridges.

In my considered opinion, if people didn't speed all the time and drive like idiots, the causeway wouldn't be any more dangerous than any other road in Glynn county. After all, we kill about the same number of drivers on our other busy highway--US I-95--each year, and it has concrete barriers and/or a wide grass median along it's lenght.

As is usual, instead of taking responsibility for their own safety and behavior, people want the GOVERNMENT to step in and spend taxpayer money to save us all from ourselves.

Like I always say..."you can make it fool proof, but you can't make it damnfool proof..."