Motorcyclists and Traffic

Jeez, this is annoying. I just sent a complaint to the Suffolk County police. Lately, scores of motorcyclists have been going around in Huntington, blocking traffic as they enter or leave major roads. It just happened again up on Jericho Turnpike--bikers blocked all lanes of traffic in both directions and entering Jericho from either direction so their pack of friends could leave the Harley Davidson lot together. Everyone else, be damned. I would have liked to travel in a convoy to a music show Thursday night--good luck to me trying to stop traffic. Enough already--they don't have rights the rest of us don't have, no matter what they're doing. Why are the rest of us stuck waiting through two red lights so that they can claim ownership of the road?

Traffic Hazard Ahead--Us!

So, it's not just our imagination--Long Islanders really are hazardous drivers, not just because of congestion or speed but because of the way we disregard traffic rules. I can't count the number of times I've seen people use a turn lane to jump ahead of straight-ahead traffic. That's just one problem. Here's a really thoughtful piece on how dangerous we are making our roads.

Bucolic? Well, Sometimes

The New York Times has a nice piece today about driving on Long Island. Despite the nastiness of traffic most days and most times, pleasant afternoon drives can be found.

My first real exposure to Long Island, moving here from Connecticut, was Jericho Turnpike. What a dismal introduction. All those many strip malls, with their endless entrances and exits that slow traffic.

My own neighborhood is getting more difficult to get out of. We're bordered on one site by a very busy county road that leads down to Jericho Turnpike. At the end of the other road, Dix Hills, also leading to Jericho, is a five-way intersection that has become nearly impossible to get through now. I don't know what has happened, other than the resetting of lights because of a relatively new grocery store but that intersection has become a real mess, with drivers making haphazard turns in front and to the side of other cars as they try to enter one of the five roads leading into the intersection.