It's a strange feeling to watch people become so consumed with hatred that they lose all sense of logic and proportion and turn into such raging lunatics that you shake your head at, and walk away from them really, really fast.
And right now, some of the more strident haters of the infamous, broken and idiotic $135 million Albuquerque Rapid Transit project, are turning into lunatics.
Earlier this week (Wednesday) there was a fatal car crash at Central and Yucca on the Westside. A guy heading eastbound on Central ran a red light and was t-boned by a car that was northbound on Yucca. The force of the collision slammed the car that ran the red light into the concrete ART station in the middle of Central near the intersection and its driver died.
So now, the ART haters are blaming the guy's death on ART itself, suggesting he might have lived were it not for the ART station in the middle of Central. And, they're also suggesting that the driver ran the red light because he might have been confused by the new traffic light and lane configuration at the intersection.
Here's my message to you:
You people are insane. Get a grip, and stick really big tranquilizer darts into your arms.
ART didn't kill the motorist who ran the red light. The ART station wasn't put there just to kill the guy. And the traffic light and lane configurations weren't put in place in order to cause motorists to run red lights and get hit and slammed into the ART station.
If you buy into the idea that ART killed the motorist, you'd have to believe that this conversation occurred between the engineers and architects who designed the project:
“We have to put a station at Yucca and Central, and we have to make the traffic signals and lanes so complicated so that on January 31, 2018, a guy heading eastbound on Central at approximately 7:05 in the morning will be confused and run the red light and get t-boned by a car heading northbound on Yucca. If we put the station in just the right place – it can't be even a centimeter off – the guy 's car will get slammed into the platform and he'll die.”
If you believe that, you are truly, truly crazy.
No one can say whether the guy would have lived had the ART station not been there. The fact is, it's there now and that's what happened. And what happened is that the guy ran a red light. If he was confused by the light and lane configuration he should have exercised abundant caution.
ART is a dumb project that never should have been built. And it might have to be junked. But it's not a killing machine that's stalking us and causing motorists to run red lights.
Again, people, get a grip. Because right now you sound like fools.