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“It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile and one nut to scatter it all over the road.”

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I realize that after a near accident, it is the annual time once again to write about bad drivers. I was driving on Route 202 in a 50-mph zone when I was nearly hit head-on by a couple of cars from the other side of the road.

What happened is that they had a car turning to the right just ahead of them so they swung right into my lane. It was close and happened so fast because of the speed limit. I seriously doubt that I would have survived the crash. I have no idea why some think that they have the right of way on both sides of the road but it is getting more common to witness.

If that wasn’t bad enough I was approaching a stop sign where one road ended on Windham Center Road. I slowed down and I thank God that I did because a vehicle coming from my right turned left and if I had been right at the stop sign I would have been hit head-on once again.

I have seen the same thing happen time and time again, especially where the Pope Road cuts across Route 202. I am surprised that there haven’t been more accidents at that intersection because people traveling on Pope Road often stop right on Route 202 instead of the stop signs. I guess that shouldn’t be any great surprise at all because one sees this all across Maine.

Perhaps the best place is either of the two roads coming out of the Windham High School campus onto Route 202. What’s interesting is many are not students as I might have expected.

I just love how the Maine Department of Transportation loves rotaries, or round-a-bouts if you like that term. I have had so many close calls at the one located at the junction of Routes 302 and 202 that I do my best to avoid it. The yield signs must be hard to understand because I have had to slam on my brakes numerous times and what’s really weird is that the driver that failed to yield quite often shows that famous digit on a hand that advertises their IQ.

It’s not that a traffic light would make much difference either. Just last week I witnessed a pickup truck stop on Windham Center Road where it meets Route 202. The driver looked both ways and went right through the red light. I used to be against having cameras hidden in traffic lights to catch offenders doing just that, but I have certainly changed my mind and now believe every traffic light should have one. Europe has done it for years, and it works.

I feel that the need for speed and road rage are on the increase. Road rage is usually caused by aggressive drivers who feel that they own the road. It happened to me on one of Windham’s thoroughfares when I was doing the speed limit and the wingnut behind me wanted to speed. Luckily no one was coming from the other direction when he passed me near a corner and slammed on the brakes.

I stopped some distance away and he drove off at a high rate of speed. I find it unfortunate that I witness drivers speeding and passing where they shouldn’t on an almost daily basis. I also hear more and more citizens talking about an instance where the same thing has happened to them.

Perhaps the worse traffic infractions I see are traveling way above the speed limit. I see it everywhere and it doesn’t matter what town or city I am in. I am very happy to see that the Windham Police Department is using radar to catch speeders, and it’s amazing how some people don’t care. When one can see on a daily basis people driving at 50 or 60 mph in a 30-mph zone it becomes obvious that the police must act.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham wonders if the speed limit increases on Maine’s turnpike will cause more fatal accidents.