A crash course on the Interstate

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    I was a little late picking up my traveling companion for a trip to Skowhegan last week.
    I was familiar with the road she lives on, but couldn’t pick her house out easily. There must have six “small white homes — you can’t  miss it” within two miles.

    When I arrived apologetic, she joked, “That’s nothing. You could have been on I-95.”
    That’s for sure. One thing about driving on a traditional two-lane highway: you can always find a side road to exit if there’s a traffic tie-up.
    But if you’re on a controlled-access highway, you’re a captive audience.
    There was a lot of guesswork and Monday-morning quarterbacking after the I-95 crash-fest last week that disabled or destroyed 72 vehicles and injured nearly 20 people. Some of the photos of the carnage were unbelievable. Usually, things like this happen in California, Texas or Florida — not in Maine.
    One pickup truck was folded up like a piece of tinfoil. A school bus crushed a compact car like a beer can. One lady, who kept her composure long enough to snap some photos afterwards, had her SUV squeezed by two skidding tractor-trailers.
    On the same morning as the mechanical horror show, I drove from St. Albans to Dover-Foxcroft and didn’t even push 45 mph. The snow wasn’t accumulating very much; but it was blowing so hard, I couldn’t see 20 feet in front of me.
    So my theory is that a few impatient drivers on I-95 saw that the left-hand lane was clear, ignored the 45 mph temporary speed limit and decided that they’d beat the crowd to their destination. Instead, several of them had their cars beat to a pulp and kept everyone from reaching their destination.
    For NASCAR fans, it’s like “The Big One” at Daytona or Talladega: the inevitable result of cars driving close together, and one or two at the head of the pack spinning out of control.
    My wife has never liked the Interstate. She rarely goes over 50 mph on any road. “Why don’t we go down Route 2 for a change?” she’ll ask when we’re heading to Bangor from St. Albans.
    “Well,” I’d say, “it’s slower and you have to drive through Newport, Etna and Hermon.”
    “So? What’s your hurry?”
    That’s a good point if you’re just going out for dinner. But if you’re commuting 40 miles to work five days a week, the scenic route just doesn’t cut it.
    But if there was any silver lining in the clouds after the multi-vehicle mayhem, it was that people may start paying a little more attention to their driving habits during bad weather.
    First, don’t follow too closely, especially in bad weather. Visibility is bad and traction is even worse.
    Second, pay attention to your surroundings. Don’t fiddle with the radio or yak on the cell phone. If it rings, let it go to voice mail until you’re safely parked.
    Finally, slow down. Leave early enough to give yourself some leeway.
    And if someone tells me that I “can’t miss” seeing their house, chances are I will.
  Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.