Editorial: Golden Gate Estates

Shawn Teeters of Golden Gate Estates is an expert on road transportation safety. No, he doesn’t have a college degree or fancy certificates for attending seminars. He manages a Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurant.

He has rescued a woman from a sinking van in pre-dawn darkness. He used a rock from the bank of the canal next to his home to smash the rear window, reach in, grab her by the hair and swim/drag her to safety.

You might have read about this about two weeks ago.

He looks at Collier County’s road-spending priorities.

“We spend all this money on palm trees to make our medians look pretty, and that’s nice,” he says. “It’s not like it would cost a ton of money to put up an extra stop sign or some trees out there — something to block the view of the other side so drivers don’t think they are going down the same road” at night and into the water.

The “official” expert response to the near-tragedy was that the county exceeded federal safety standards by having two little red reflective squares up at the end of that and other Golden Gate Estates canals, rather than the one sign that the rule book calls for.

Thank goodness the county has dropped the mumbo- jumbo in favor of Teeter’s plain talk. The interim fix is an array of safety signs and a barricade at the end of 23rd Avenue Southwest. There are new pavement stripes and warning signs in advance as well.

That’s more like it.

Now, when will comparable safety measures be applied to other streets where danger lurks? Take cues from Shawn Teeters and get the job done.