A few weeks ago, I read the letter to the editor by Tom Morris (I Didn’t Invent The Speed Limits: Progress Jan. 31, 2018), and something stuck out that just doesn’t seem to make sense. While Tom claims he follows the speed limits, he makes this reference, “On numerous occasions, cars have passed me in the Logandale section crossing the double yellow lines, tired of traveling at 35 mph that far south of the city.”
While it’s never good to pass anybody, regardless of how slow they’re going, in a double yellow line section, saying “traveling at 35 mph that far south of the city”, makes me wonder if he really is going the speed limit.
The only spot in Logandale on Moapa Valley Blvd that is a 35 MPH zone is the short stretch between the two LDS chapels; the one across the street from the Logandale park, (the 35 mph zone starts just north of the bridge while heading south,) until the chapel at Hinckley Ave. To the North it’s 45 mph, and south is 55 mph.
Too many times while I’m driving from Logandale to Overton (and back) I get stuck behind people going 45, or even 40 in a 55 mph zone. From the Hinckley Chapel, all the way down to just before the Overton Power District building, the speed limit is 55 mph. It is not 35 mph. So what does Mr. Morris mean when he says, “…traveling at 35 mph that far south of the city”?
I for one am normally not in that big of a hurry, and if it was people going 50 mph that I can’t safely get around because of the oncoming traffic, then it wouldn’t bother me so much. But going 10, or even 15 mph under the speed limit is extremely annoying.
Just yesterday coming home from Lin’s I was stuck behind a group of cars going 35 mph in a 55!! Fortunately, they finally turned off at Yamashita bridge so I wasn’t stuck behind them all the way up to the Hinckley chapel.
If you can’t go the speed limit then you shouldn’t be driving on the road in my opinion. Most of the speed limit along Moapa Valley Blvd. north of downtown Overton is not 35 mph. It’s either 55 or 45.
I wish Metro and NHP would start pulling over and ticketing those obstructing traffic by going 15-20 mph under the speed limit. That would be one option to fix the issue with all the slow drivers in the valley who do not go the speed limit.
Another option was suggested months ago in another letter to the editor written by Esther Ramos, I believe it was: post more of the 55 mph signs along that stretch of road. There’s basically two covering both directions.
So, if you’re tired of people riding your tail, and then speeding around you when you’re driving down Moapa Valley Blvd, maybe you need to reevaluate if you’re really driving the speed limit. If you’re going 35 “that far south of the city” then maybe you’re not really going the speed limit, and need to start, or get off the road.
William Bush
