Colorado Springs is a considerate town
At least the last two weeks seemed to be so…
I overheard someone say tonight that Colorado Springs was given the dubious honor of being one of the rudest cities in America. I beg to differ.
In the past two weeks I have happened across car crashes that tied up multiple lanes of traffic that in any other city would have left me sitting idle for the better parts of an hour or more and each time the drivers shocked me and, not only got over, but let people in.
The first crash was on Powers, and for those of you familiar with that stretch of road, you know that when a crash happens anywhere along the road, not only does it tie up traffic but it is pretty spectacular a crash that causes people to slow down and see the bits of gnarled up metal and check for dead bodies. The crash happened to be at the base of a hill so drivers knew well enough in advance that the crash tied up the left two lanes of the three lanes of traffic. What surprised me was, that by 1/4 mile from the crash everyone had neatly, and without a single asshole racing to the end, shifted over to the right-hand lane and slowly crept through the accident.
Just last night a similar bang up happened on Academy, another one of our few North/South thoroughfares and this was a bit harder to see what was happening until you were about on top of it, but, still, in the same fashion everyone smoothly slid over to the right-hand lane and carefully moved past the crash. It was a bit disconcerting to see a red VW bug, just like mine, torn up in the crash, but everyone was okay. So, we all went about our business.
Tonight a motorcycle was involved in a pretty serious crash and people carefully pulled their cars to protect the bike and rider from any further damage and drivers carefully diverted themselves around the crash even before the police or responders arrived.
I came from the DC Metro area where every driver seemed to believe they were more important than any other on the road. One section of road I traveled most days on my commute, when I lived in Arlington, had ample signage about the lane ending for over 1/2 mile yet jerks would drive up to the very tip of the lane before merging.
No, I don’t believe Colorado Springs is filled with rude people. Sure we have our good days and bad days, but when push comes to shove, we pick up and help our neighbors. I would suggest meeting people with a smile and a hello and see how that helps.
