October 06, 2008
Monday

In response to Ms. Bailey's letter, I do agree that leash laws should be obeyed. They are in effect for a reason, which includes protection of your pets. However, there is another very important law that wasn t mentioned in the letter Ms. Bailey submitted. It is called the speed limit. My daughters attend a daycare on the bend in the road that Ms. Bailey mentioned, between Mattle Road and Moore Drive. In the three years that my children have attended this daycare center, I have driven through that bend nearly each weekday. There are a lot of animals, dogs included who roam the neighborhood at their leisure and many times, I have come around this bend and encountered an animal or a child in the road. I have never hit an animal or a child driving on North Point Higgins Road. Why is this? Because I follow the speed laws. If you are driving the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour on this residential road, you should have ample time to stop before you hit an animal or child.

And I may be misinformed, but what I understand is that the driver who hit this dog didn t stop to check on the animal, nor did he/she even slow down to make sure it wasn t a child who was hit. He was a large dog, and there s no way a person could have missed running into him.

Basically, the greater issue here isn t the dogs in the road, and if that is an issue then the children who regularly play in the road should be addressed as a problem as well, because the dog could easily have been a child riding her bike. The issue here is that people treat North Point Higgins Road as though it is a motor speedway. They drive incredibly fast with no regard for the safety of others. Not just private vehicles, but commercial vehicles, dump trucks. Many drivers who use North Point Higgins Road share this disregard for the safety of others.

Ms. Bailey, if that dog had been a child, would your letter have been written to direct parents to keep their kids on their own property? I think not. I realize you are not at fault here, and that you are just stating your opinion, but I feel that writing a letter even suggesting that the problem was the dog being unleashed is a misrepresentation of the real issue at hand.

It is simple, drivers. If the posted speed limit is 25 mph, then you drive 25 mph. Let s get it together and begin to act responsibly before another animal or worse, a person is hit on North Point Higgins Road. Residents, when you see a person driving recklessly, call the Troopers and report it. Even if they don t catch that particular person, they re bound to start paying closer attention to our area if we keep calling in to report a problem. Let s work together to solve this problem.

Respectfully,

Katie Shull
Ketchikan, AK

About: " Resident of North Point Higgins area, mother to two small children, animal lover."

Received October 06, 2008 - Published October 06, 2008

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