The following ad (from Cowboy State Daily, a Wyoming on-line daily newspaper) is not a joke.
Yes, you are reading that right. State Departments of Transportation and their various State cops (Highway or State Patrols, State Police, etc.) supposedly close highways during and after blizzards to protect the public safety. (We know about northern and western States: do southern States close off highways for/during hurricanes? Please let us know.) In Wyoming, there is also another consideration: where a highway is closed during blizzards can have a major negative impact on small communities overwhelmed with a massive number of trucks and other travelers.
Drivers are not trusted by the authorities to decide for themselves whether it is safe to drive when the wind is blowing dozens of miles an hour and snow is coming down by the bucket loads. And I suppose we can argue that many drivers canNOT be trusted to accurately judge their own expertise and the capability of their vehicle to deal with ice, snow, wind, and frankly, the stupidity of other drivers.
But a lack of reasoning and good analysis means that often WYDOT and WHP closes highways in ways that trap people, create massive traffic jams, and dump hundreds or thousands of people into towns with very few people. Or leave travelers to fend for themselves without any more shelter than their cars or trucks.
Wyoming, of course, is well known for its hazardous highway conditions, especially in winter. I-80, where thousands of trucks a day deliver goods to dozens of cities and States, is particularly bad. Even in summer, high winds on I-80 and especially I-25 north of Cheyenne very commonly blow semi-trucks and trailers off the highway or actually blow them over.
Even in the summer…
So, a helpful Wyoming Highway Patrol car trying to keep the truck from falling over!
And notice the way the ad for this wonderful service is worded: “when authorities judge it is safe to do so.” So clearly, they still don’t trust a lot of drivers. And the argument on ramming decisions down the throats of travelers is simple: it is government agencies that get to spend massive amounts of time and money rescuing people, cleaning up the mess, and often repairing what the idiots destroyed or damaged.
But the logic seems to be missing: if you are a Wyoming-licensed driver, you can sign up and get to travel on (selected) roads that the “experts” (cops and highway maintenance workers) have closed because it is unsafe for most people to drive on.
Even as relatively free a State as Wyoming still is a nanny state – increasingly moving towards “totalitarian” status as time goes on.
Other States, and local governments, seem to be even worse: not just strolling towards elective dictatorships and totalitarian government regimes like Wyoming, but actually galloping there. And it is horrible to admit that generally, their electorates support this. They are indeed living examples of the accurate prediction of Founding Fathers:
There is no question: today it is “temporary safety” that dominates the minds of most Americans. But the mental dissonance exhibited by the supposed guardians of liberty and public safety makes it even worse.
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
The capricious and irrational nature of American governments
The following ad (from Cowboy State Daily, a Wyoming on-line daily newspaper) is not a joke.
Yes, you are reading that right. State Departments of Transportation and their various State cops (Highway or State Patrols, State Police, etc.) supposedly close highways during and after blizzards to protect the public safety. (We know about northern and western States: do southern States close off highways for/during hurricanes? Please let us know.) In Wyoming, there is also another consideration: where a highway is closed during blizzards can have a major negative impact on small communities overwhelmed with a massive number of trucks and other travelers.
Drivers are not trusted by the authorities to decide for themselves whether it is safe to drive when the wind is blowing dozens of miles an hour and snow is coming down by the bucket loads. And I suppose we can argue that many drivers canNOT be trusted to accurately judge their own expertise and the capability of their vehicle to deal with ice, snow, wind, and frankly, the stupidity of other drivers.
But a lack of reasoning and good analysis means that often WYDOT and WHP closes highways in ways that trap people, create massive traffic jams, and dump hundreds or thousands of people into towns with very few people. Or leave travelers to fend for themselves without any more shelter than their cars or trucks.
Wyoming, of course, is well known for its hazardous highway conditions, especially in winter. I-80, where thousands of trucks a day deliver goods to dozens of cities and States, is particularly bad. Even in summer, high winds on I-80 and especially I-25 north of Cheyenne very commonly blow semi-trucks and trailers off the highway or actually blow them over.
Even in the summer…
So, a helpful Wyoming Highway Patrol car trying to keep the truck from falling over!
And notice the way the ad for this wonderful service is worded: “when authorities judge it is safe to do so.” So clearly, they still don’t trust a lot of drivers. And the argument on ramming decisions down the throats of travelers is simple: it is government agencies that get to spend massive amounts of time and money rescuing people, cleaning up the mess, and often repairing what the idiots destroyed or damaged.
But the logic seems to be missing: if you are a Wyoming-licensed driver, you can sign up and get to travel on (selected) roads that the “experts” (cops and highway maintenance workers) have closed because it is unsafe for most people to drive on.
Even as relatively free a State as Wyoming still is a nanny state – increasingly moving towards “totalitarian” status as time goes on.
Other States, and local governments, seem to be even worse: not just strolling towards elective dictatorships and totalitarian government regimes like Wyoming, but actually galloping there. And it is horrible to admit that generally, their electorates support this. They are indeed living examples of the accurate prediction of Founding Fathers:
There is no question: today it is “temporary safety” that dominates the minds of most Americans. But the mental dissonance exhibited by the supposed guardians of liberty and public safety makes it even worse.
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.