Median barriers reduce fatalities by 43 percent

In his letter dated Jan. 4, Richard Creed suggested that I would be agreeable to the Sand Creek bypass providing it had a centerline median.

While I would be happier if it had median barriers than not, there are many other facets of the bypass that I object to. My top two issues are the lack of safety features such as median separation or barriers and the visual impact of the bypass between the Power House and the Cedar Street Bridge.

I continue to be troubled by Mr. Creed's "blame the driver" approach to traffic safety.

The specific type of accident prevented by median barriers is the crossover head-on; a particularly violent and deadly accident. While the cause may well be an irresponsible driver these accidents always involve one or more completely innocent parties. Crossover head-ons have been the cause of four fatalities in 10 years on US-95 between Sagle and Sandpoint.

I find considerable comfort in advocating for median barriers on any bypass alternative knowing that the definitive study on them completed by the Institute for Traffic Safety shows that median barriers reduce overall traffic fatalities by 43 percent. Over the lifetime of the bypass project this would undoubtedly prevent a significant number of needless deaths.

I'm sure Mr. Creed would agree that the appropriate mechanism to resolve this safety issue is for ITD to request either an engineering audit or peer review of the Sand Creek project to measure its conformance with best practices for safety.

Undoubtedly Mr. Creed is familiar with the American Society of Civil Engineers peer review program, a program that is offered to government agencies at a very modest cost. I plan to formally request that ITD complete this review.

STEVE POTTER

Citizens for the

Sandpoint Tunnel

Sandpoint

Congress needs to demand end to occupation of Iraq

President Bush has announced he will escalate the war in Iraq by sending more troops into the civil war. The President's plan ignores the American people who voted for change in November, and who continue to demand we bring our troops home. This is a failed plan and will only exacerbate the problem. Congress needs to hold Bush's feet to the fire and force him to redeploy the troops and end our occupation of Iraq.

BILL LEWIS

Sandpoint