Studies have shown that it takes 8.2 seconds to fall in love; 9 seconds to tie a shoe, and I can fill those seconds with more “I love you’s” than my kids care to hear.
A rodeo cowboy only has to stay on the back of a bull for 8 seconds to earn points. It’s called the most dangerous 8 seconds in sports, but we’ve recently discovered where just 8.7 seconds could be the difference between life and death for the average Minnesota commuter in the Jackson area.
I have a test, I dare you to take.
See how long it takes you to say:
Mitchell Lewis Jarmer and Jake William Peterson
I bet it took less than 8.7 seconds to say both of their names.
It took only a fraction of that time to end their lives when a truck ran a stop sign and collided with them, and unfortunately, they are not the only lives takens at the intersection of County Roads 29 and 34 north of Alpha. In the past 6 years alone, there have been at least 10 accidents, two of them fatal. All of them changed the lives of those involved, and none for the better.
Since the fatal accident of July 26, the Jackson County Commissioners agreed that this intersection is not safe; one even said they do not go on this road themselves because of its tragic history. There were numerous options presented at their August 18 meeting, and Jackson County Sheriff Shawn Hawken spoke, saying in his opinion the best option was to install a 4-way stop. The commissioners though, decided to delay action, while they reviewed an “Intersection Control Evaluation.”
Despite the evidence and support, on September 7, they voted to say, not enough tragedies have happened to put up a four-way stop. Their decision was made because doing so would add 8.7 seconds onto a commute. Nevermind, some of those commuters will likely die because the County Commissioners wanted to save them a little time.
Think about that.
The commissioners think adding 8.7 seconds onto a drive is too much to ask of those commuters to save lives. These commuters are not daredevil cowboys who choose to sit on a raging bull for glory - these are people who didn’t mind spending a few seconds to tie their shoes this morning so they didn’t trip and fall. They didn’t mind the few seconds to check their mirrors and adjust their seatbelts to assure they are safe on their drive. I bet they wouldn’t even mind sitting at a 4-way stop for a few extra seconds if they only knew the tragedies spawned from that intersection. For those of us whose lives have already been changed by that crossroad, we will be carrying this for the rest of our lives.
I would wager, the friends and families of Mitchell Jarmer and Jake Peterson would love to have 8.7 seconds more of “I love you’s,” to share. What about the families who will lose loved ones at the intersection of of 29 and 34 next year? When will enough people have died to make a difference - a difference the Jackson County Commissioners could make now to minimize future tragedies.
What will have to happen next to even get this conversation started again? How many more lives need to be ruined or altered before we decide as a community that 8.7 seconds is acceptable? How long did it take for them to decide 8.7 seconds is unacceptable? Longer than the time it would take to stop and look both ways, one would hope.
Courtney Hopkins
Sept. 23
