Message-ID: <32B80661.3B8@uniontel.net> Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 06:57:37 -0800 From: David Johnson <mailto:pinefarm@UNIONTEL.NET> Subject: Truck troubles To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
I lived in Costa Rica for 2 months three years ago. We had a
house in a small town about an hour from San Jose. I used to take the
small, local bus into town, usually once a day. The main road out of town
was blacktop and passed under a railroad bridge. THere was quite a bit of
traffic on the road and three times in the two months I was there, the
bus was held up because of an accident at the bridge.
In each case, a semi had tried to pass under the bridge and had
its top peeled back like from a can opener by the main girder of the
bridge. This girder was a massive steel I beam and it was full of dents
where it had been hit over the years.
Given the fact that I was there such a short time and rarely
passed under the bridge, the fact that I saw three identical accidents
indicates to me that there must have been an awful lot of damage done
over the years.
In spite of that, there were no warning signs and the clearance
was not indicated anywhere. I assume that these accidents continue at the
same rate as I saw. Not only is that rough on the truckers, I can imagine
a company, Costa Rican or foreign, buying land to build a factory only to
find that semis can't get to their plant.
This sort of thing baffles the hell out of me when I see it.
Costa Rica is not Ruanda, its a country which is held up as a model for
other developing countries. I enjoyed my time there and liked the people
I met. They have a model democracy and a concern for the environment.
They seem to be a humane and decent people yet, things like this persist.
I don't understand why the people responsible for the road system
don't warn people of the hazard and I don't understand why the truckers
don't do it if the government won't. It wouldn't cost much and would be
easy. Dave Johnson