Sometimes I am overwhelmed about the amount of subjects that I could do a column on and as usual an event happened to me that gave me the reason for a column about bad drivers. As luck would have it, I was traveling on Route 202 heading to Gorham and when I was going by the South Windham Post Office, a young male driver passed me even though I was doing the speed limit. Just in case one is not familiar with that area, right past the post office there is a small hill, which means if a vehicle was coming up the hill there would have been an extremely bad head-on accident.

I consider myself fortunate because my high school had driver’s training as a half-year course and for the other half of a school year I took typing which helped me during my military career in administration. We were given the knowledge and skills to drive properly. We were also taught to be aware of our surroundings when driving as well as to remain alert as to what was happening around us as we drove. Unfortunately, I find so many examples of just the opposite and what scares me is, that’s on a daily basis. Today’s world of endless electronic devices such as cell phones along with many accessories available on new automobiles, makes distracted drivers an almost certainty.

I swear, when a traffic light is changing from green to red it means put the petal to the metal and fly through the light at twice the speed limit. It’s either that or I missed a public announcement that a red light means keep going if you think the coast is clear to do so. That is most evident at the intersection of Route 202 and River Road, especially during the evening hours when there are many cars coming out of Westbrook heading toward North Windham. I have witnessed municipal and school vehicles doing the same at that location and most were not from Windham.

Since I mentioned municipal and school vehicles, I wonder if it is time to install GPS devices to track where they are going and if there are any driving infractions like speeding. Car and truck rental agencies do exactly that along with many other private corporations with large fleets of vehicles. I am not going to go out of my way to chase down a public vehicle breaking the law unless it appears that there is an imminent danger to lives. Just in Windham I have witnessed so many cars running red lights, speeding and tailgating (which is a real pet peeve of mine). It seems to me as another winter season is upon us the amount of drivers that go totally stupid when driving in snow has increased once again. I was driving toward South Windham during the last significant snowstorm with some idiot only a couple of yards behind my rear bumper. Even though I own a Jeep, it leaves some things to be desired when driving in bad weather and that day was no exception. As I approached the traffic light at Route 202 and River Road it started changing color and I did my best to stop but didn’t because I noticed the car behind me couldn’t, which almost forced me to hit a car that made a right turn without stopping.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, I witnessed a vehicle passing another on the River Road where Newhall and Gambo roads meet. That’s a 30-mph zone and the vehicle being passed was doing at least 50 mph. That’s scary!

Surprisingly, Lane Hiltunen of Windham wants cameras in traffic lights.