Ed Note: This is an unsolicited guest post from a contributor who wants to remain anonymous.
It was about 6:30am last week when I turned my Jeep onto west-bound I-70 at the Silverthorne on-ramp. It was a Tuesday morning following a little snow overnight. You know, just enough to make it really slick but not enough to postpone my trip to the big city to make a few early runs. It’s days like this that I-70 should be feared most – after all, this is one of the most dangerous stretches of roadway in the state.
As I approached tunnel that my usual speed-limit plus 5mph, I encountered a resort transportation van. I won’t reveal the brand, but I will describe what I can imagine was a bit unnerving for passengers, especially those sitting in the back of the van. Lets just say it had a little red on it, and some white, and maybe a bunch of other colors that really didn’t go well with the brand. Oh, and the tires were rounded and black.
It was going [approximately] speed limit (wink, wink), which is really a good idea since most of these resort transportation vehicles are equipped with big-brother-style monitoring technology. Real-time GPS tracking can easily tell if drivers are breaking the law. But what they can’t detect is crappy driving. This driver was all over the place – drifting right, back to the left, speeding up, slowing down. To make passengers comfortable on mountain roads, it’s always wise to pick a speed (and a lane) and stick with it. This guy couldn’t seem to do either. I passed him, but ever so cautiously.
A few more miles toward the tunnel, I came upon another resort transportation van – this time a less familiar brand – Summit Express. Unlike the driver of the red-and-white-and-every-color-except-those-in-the-rainbow van, he was right on the speed limit and noticeably consistent. But, as I approached from behind, I noticed this driver was dead-solid-perfect – straight down the middle. No weaving, no speed variations. Just good, solid safe driving.
Just thought you might like to know – customers notice stuff like this.
