To the editor:

So there I was, blissfully driving along on my way to a gig, loving the beautiful island that’s been my home for seven years, thinking about how fortunate I am, counting my many blessings, and then AWWW NOOOO here we go again! Dead Dangerous Person Driving. Pop goes my Bliss Bubble!

I’m not typically a whiner, but I just feel obligated to write and don my rosy hibiscus-colored glasses in hopes that MAYBE something I say will make some folks THINK about how dangerous it is when they inconsiderately hum and scratch and shuck and jive and la-di-da and ooze so SO slowly along Stringfellow Road, 30-50 mph in a 55 mph zone, painfully oblivious and with absolutely no regard for those of us on our way to work or appointments. (or those of us who’d rather fish on a day off than live in our cars an extra hour per day!) Well choke me!

So what do you do?

n You can add an extra half hour to every trip… Even that’s not even enough sometimes! (and the annual math on that car time makes me cry!)

n You listen to meditative music chanting Ohm Ghandi-Ghandi so you don’t pop a personal head gasket! (but then find you need dental work to repair the stublets you’ve ground your teeth into)

n You try to cautiously pass them because you just can’t take it anymore. And that’s the biggest problem.

Stringfellow Road is narrow and curvy and really dangerous when trying to pass. (especially on a motorcycle; I would know!)

So now the dead people driving put everyone’s life in danger.

When I do have a safe margin to pass (ONLY to end up behind ANOTHER one of them!), and check to see what’s causing them to drive so inconsiderately slow, I see things like text messaging, flapping on the phone, spanking their radio, groping their car mate, reading and on and on and on. HELLOOOO!

But more than not, I just see those who lazily slop along and just plain old drive like they don’t have a care about anyone else. Cause they don’t. And that’s just plain old selfish and unkind as well as dangerous!

I love our “island time” and I love the days when I have no where to go and can just take my time getting somewhere, but as a good island buddy of mine says he does when he’s in someone else’s space and has all of the time in the world…. “Ya just be considerate and safe and kindly PULL TO THE RIGHT”, so you can float and the rest of us can drive at the speed limit and have a life out of the cockpits of our cars!

So I’m asking, begging, pleading that if you know anyone who’s guilty of the above, PLEASE kindly urge them to pull over to make our island safe and happy! (maybe they just live in a bubble and have never thought it out) (yeah, right!)

Last of all, if any of us know of anyone who for some reason isn’t fit to drive because of some health or other reason, it’s in the safety interest of all of us and our island children to talk with them or a friend or family member about how to get them off the road.

So there. I said it and I’m sticking to it. Maybe next time I’ll rant about those who think bike paths are for vehicles, or those who think we have an unlimited supply of water! (it’s all of our bike path and all of our water!)

Annie Wenz

Pine Island Musician/Songwriter/Biker/

Riff Raff and Proud of it!