Utah laws and ordinances and whatnot and so forth

Every so often I am given further proof that the world does not share in my logic. There are a few Utah laws, or more specifically, the reaction of Utah citizens to those laws, that have greatly confused me recently.

A few years ago they built a HOV lane from north Salt Lake down to Provo. It was completely finished in the Spring of 2006. A few months later the powers that be decided that the rules for the lane needed to be changed slightly. The repainted the lines so that for most of the lane it is bordered on the right with a double white line. They have created dashed entrance and exit areas. They also sell a set number of passes each month for people who want to use the lane when there is only one person in the vehicle. These changes were made to limit the traffic hazard of those people who realize as they are driving past their exit that it is their exit and then cut across four lanes of traffic to get to their exit. They will now have to exit far enough in advance of their exit that they have time to safely cross all lanes of traffic. And the permits are to increase the use of the lane a bit. None of it seems that hard to me. You aren’t supposed to cross solid lines, no matter the color or number, regardless of where you are on the road. Unfortunately, it appears the vast majority of Utahns cannot grasp any of the concepts associated with an HOV lane, many of whom I have even heard refer to it as a “passing lane.” It really is not that hard to understand.

On January 1st a new law went into effect in Utah that lowers the cost on unprepared food. I heard several stories on the news and radio trying to explain this seemingly difficult law to people. Again, it is something that makes complete sense to me. If you are buying unprepared food the tax is less. If you are buying prepared food, such as at a restaurant, then the tax is what it is for everything else. Of course my immediate understanding of this might have to do with the fact that I grew up in Texas where there is no tax on unprepared food. But still, it doesn’t seem like it should be all that hard to understand.

And back to driving in Utah. On Friday, the 5th, a car cut off a semi carrying containers of hydrochloric acid on the freeway. The semi had to break so he wouldn’t hit the car, three of the containers fell off the truck, one broke and spilled acid on the road. It backed up traffic for hours, and three people were cited after they broke through the road block and drove through the acid. Now the news is reporting that the company that owns the truck as well as the driver of the truck will have to cover the cost of cleaning the road. I can understand that, the containers might not have been secured sufficiently. But shouldn’t the driver of the car be responsible as well? Shouldn’t he be cited for reckless driving? Semi’s are big. Cars are small. Any driver of a car that cuts off a semi is obviously lacking brain power because the car will always lose in a crash with a semi. If the driver of the car had not been driving recklessly, the driver of the semi would not have had to break and the containers would not have fallen off.

My brand of logic must be very unique.