Editorial: Traffic

Chances are, you or someone you know was affected by Thursday morning’s mega traffic mess caused by a tractor trailer overturning on Interstate 75 between Immokalee and Pine Ridge roads.

The wreck halted southbound traffic at morning rush hour, sending cars and trucks in search of alternate routes — and clogging those roads as well as far north as Fort Myers.

Immokalee Road was ... Immokalee Road.

There are seemingly few places on Earth that are crippled by a wreck, even a minor one, as badly as Collier and/or Lee counties, especially on or near I-75 at rush hour. All kinds of travel grinds to a crawl: travel for business, pleasure, college classes and, yes, travel for even more travel at Southwest Florida International Airport.

When just a few of our wheels come off, they all seem to follow. Someday a keen statistician will figure how much only one of these catastrophes costs in time and wages lost — let alone property damage and personal injury and anguish.

Each instance exposes the vulnerability of our road network at the Collier-Lee frontier.

Each instance also shows the importance of personal responsibility — to be alert and drive safely. As speeds and traffic loads mount, the margin for error shrinks.