Letter: Don’t drive Coursey on Friday

I am not surprised at all that someone died in a car accident on Coursey Boulevard.

I drive to and from work on Coursey every day, and I’m usually out on it on weekends as well. People drive like maniacs, especially on Fridays. I don’t understand the traffic in Baton Rouge every Friday!

I’ve driven in Chicago on the Ike, Atlanta’s I-95 and I-285 and the Georgia 400, and people in Baton Rouge are possibly some of the worst drivers I’ve ever encountered — but especially so on Fridays.

Every day on Coursey at least one person pulls out in front of me and cuts me off so I have to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting them. People trying to get onto Coursey from side streets stop their vehicles past the stop signs, and most of the time people have to stop to keep from hitting them, or pull over into the other lane.

Elderly people seem timid about driving on Coursey, and if you are too timid to drive, you should not drive.

I’m also amazed at how aggressive young men in trucks are, but then young women in any kind of vehicle are sometimes more aggressive than men. What has happened to common courtesy, allowing someone to merge into traffic or just driving the speed limit?

People who pull those long trailers with lawn equipment also seem oblivious to how long those things are, and just because you can get your truck or car into traffic does not mean that the trailer is going to take up less space. I hate it when I see one of those vehicles pulling those long trailers and I will avoid areas where they are most prevalent.

One day there is going to be a bad accident from people who live in the Parkview or Parkridge — I can’t remember which — subdivision off Sherwood because the residents trying to get onto Sherwood Forest will run the stop signs and pull into traffic whether they should or not.

I have had to stop so suddenly that everything falls off the seats, and if I’d had passengers and they had not had seat belts buckled, they would have hit windows or dash or been thrown into the backs of the front seats.

Also people occupying the old Schwegmann’s grocery store on Sherwood Forest close to Airline Highway run stop signs, pull out in front of cars causing you to have to brake suddenly. You can see them getting a running start in their parking lot so they can run the stop signs and hurry into traffic.

Judy Turner

administration

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by Bouncer - 27/02/2013

Fill in the blank: Baton Rouge is the way it is because _________.

2) Comment by DMJ - 27/02/2013

Anyone ever looked at Coursey on google maps? They should study this area of town in civil engineering classes so future planning officials will know how not to design a growing city. It's no wonder Coursey and Sherwood Forest are a nightmare. There are no parallel streets. Instead of a grid, the street designs look like a Jackson Pollack. Everything is squeezed on to these arterial roadways which, surprise, surprise get filled with impatient drivers. Combined with the inevitable discourtesy, selfishness, impatience and carelessless that is the result of driving a car in general (especially in B.R.), and you have the nightmare accurately described by Judy Turner. There are some great shops and restaurants in that part of town, but I try to avoid going over there whenever possible. I suspect many, many others share my distaste. Maybe one day, our city officials will realize that poor planning is bad for business.

3) Comment by Attila - 26/02/2013

One of these days I intend to put a heavy duty piece of I-beam on the front bumper of my old truck and just start hitting those idiots that pull out in front of me or refuse to merge and insist on running all the way up to the end of the merge lane before cutting over and defying you to hit them. By the time I am through I should have collected enough for a new diesel pickup, new bass boat, and a Caribbean vacation.