An accelerating danger zone

As traffic congestion increases on local roadways, so does motorist frustration. Lowered speed limits during lane closures in highway-construction zones compound that frustration. But those limits are imposed for good reason.

And the best reason to obey them isn't merely to avoid hurting your bank account or driving record. It's to avoid hurting — or even killing — someone, including yourself.

Unfortunately, as reported in Saturday's Post and Courier, many drivers have been recklessly zooming along the section of I-26 between the Mark Clark Expressway and Ashley Phosphate Road as up to 60 workers at a time build new interchanges and widen the highway. Posted speed limits are routinely breached by wide margins, turning the construction zone into a danger zone.Seven workers' vehicles and one worker already have been hit in the first 18 months of the anticipated three-year project.

The S.C. Department of Public Safety has placed electronic signs showing drivers how fast they're going. That didn't stop one apparent Jeff Gordon wannabe from recently clocking 114 mph. Intensified enforcement by the S.C. Highway Patrol, with speeding fines of up to $455 doesn't seem be slowing the scary pace along that three-mile stretch, either. During the first six months of this year, 15 collisions were reported at the site.

So chill out, wise up and slow down. Those workers face a demanding task. They shouldn't also face fatal jeopardy because so many drivers are in such a foolish rush.