Originally Published Summer 2007

Category: Automotive I don't which is harder - trying to avoid collisions with distracted drivers in Arvada and Westminster, or trying to lose weight.   And to think I used to consider myself a bad driver.   Part of the problem is the fact that the Arvada and Westminster areas comprise the unsynchronized traffic light capital of the world - but the other part is the senior citizens driving 30 in a 45 while talking on their cell phones and sipping coffee.   Seriously. I thought I was a horrible driver (and truth be told, I'm pretty bad), but the drivers in Arvada and Westminster are making me look like Tony Stewart. The typical driver on Wadsworth, between 64th and 88th, must be close to 70 if not older. There are more Buicks on that 2 mile stretch than there are philanderers in the Kennedy family.   Throw in school buses (there have been at least two on the road every morning I've driven to work), an ungodly amount of traffic lights (41 in the 14.8 miles between my house and my new job, or 2.8 per mile), and that spells nothing but...slow. Slooooooooowwwwwww.   The bad senior citizen drivers drive at least 15 miles an hour below the speed limit, and all the while they are either talking on cell phones, drinking coffee or cola, reading (I am not making this up - I have witnessed two different AARP drivers reading the paper on two separate occasions), or just fidgeting. It's scarier than any possessed-zombie-guy-in-the-mirror-with-a-knife-sneaking-up-on-the-unsuspecting-bride-in-the-shower film ever made.   The unsynchronized traffic lights only compound the frustration, especially the lights between 64th and 88th. It is very depressing to be getting the green at, say 72nd, and all the while watching the lights two blocks ahead turning from green to yellow to red before you can accelerate to 25 mph (why they have 45 mph signs on that stretch of Wadsworth I attribute to a sadistic city employee, because not even an NHRA rated dragster could get up to 45 in the time the light changes to red).   And the really sad thing is, it is 15 minutes longer to get to work if I take the freeway - going down 6th to I-25 to 36, or to 92nd, is easily twenty additional miles, and I still have at least 9 lights to get through after getting off the freeway.   Oh well, it still is worth it. I like the new job very, very much. I work with great people, and today I found out that after a year, my dental insurance is paid for by the company - 100%!! Hello Matt Damon smile!