State Highway 92

State Highway 92 is a short two-lane highway that connect Bisbee to Sierra Vista from a southern route. We live a mile away from this highway, which means we drive on it every time we have to go into town for errands.

It's not a fun drive at all. Although the southern trip at night is beautiful, with Naco, Sonora (Mexico) shining its lights in the distant valley, driving north into town requires some risks. Even I have trouble spotting vehicles that turn off from side streets onto the highway, and many a deadly accident have occurred on this stretch. Highway memorials along the road are proof of how deadly this stretch of pavement is. Three memorials have gone up along the shoulders in the past two years.

But today was also proof at how reckless drivers can be, drivers in full-sized pick-ups pulling fast onto the highway to beat the vehicle coming toward them. Slowing down for traffic seems to be unheard of around here, and perhaps also an insult to manhood.

I witnessed a white Ford Ranger with a business logo for a pest control company in town speed onto the highway and irratically swerve into the left lane. The driver, an older man with a roundish nose even got around me; apparently the posted speedlimit of 55 mph that I was driving was too slow for him. I saw him later swerve around another driver just to get in front of him. At one point I was next to him in traffic and the old man gave me a mean look.

A few minutes later, now driving east on State Highway 90, another full-sized pick-up, this one an orange one, did a similiar driving habit: coming up close to the vehicles in front of him and then swerving closely around to get in front. The driver was another male. I guess I'd drive like an idiot, too if I drove an orange pick-up!

These kinds of drivers are all too common in our area. And it's not just the drivers, but reckless motorcycle riders who refuse to wear a safety helmet (something about their first amendment rights according to the US Constitution) and cyclists who race through stop signs along the way.

Another new observation lately is the increase in local hitch hikers. More and more locals are ditching their cars and now hitching rides into town.