7 miles. 30 minutes. Fix Hilton Head traffic lights — now — to help commuters

As a worker who must commute daily to Hilton Head Island from Bluffton, I would like to ask the Town of Hilton Head Island to please have the timing of the traffic lights re-timed by SCDOT, or whoever works on the timing of lights.

My commute each morning goes like this:

Stop at red light at Squire Pope Road, stop at red light at Spanish Wells Road, stop at red light at Gumtree Road, stop at red light at Jarvis Creek, stop at red light at Pembroke Drive. Of course, no matter which direction you are going, you stop at the red light at Indigo Run/Hilton Head Plantation.

Several times a week it takes me 30 minutes to go the 7 miles from Buckingham Plantation Road in Bluffton to Beach City Road on Hilton Head. Seven miles, yet 30 minutes!

The traffic is backed up across the bridges to the flyway. It’s not the number of cars, but the constant stopping at all the red lights that slows up the traffic.

I am begging the town that before any new light is put in at Windmill Harbor and any new construction starts at Jenkins Island Road, that someone will look into re-timing the lights.

It will be agonizing to have to endure another red light or two. Bluffton re-timed lights in the past year or so and the commute through Bluffton has greatly improved.

More gun laws are not needed

The Sunday Beaufort Gazette was replete with stories and a New York Times op-ed calling for more gun control laws, or “gun safety measures,” as the Democrats, media, and RINO Republicans call it because it sounds so much nicer.

At present, there are over 10,000 federal, state and local gun laws. Many of these are rarely, if ever, enforced.

It seems like every week or two the Gazette has a story about an arrest or conviction of a person with numerous gun-related cases that have been downgraded or dismissed in order to expedite the case. Why not prosecute them to the fullest extent?

More laws won’t stop gangs, mass murders, suicides, or irresponsible adults allowing children, the mentally ill, or known felons access to firearms. They are already breaking existing laws.

Millions of law-abiding gun owners don’t need more “gun safety measures.”

Many numbers and statistics were cited in your coverage. Here are some other numbers you won’t get from the left or the media:

Two to four million times a year, gun owners defend themselves, their families, or others by having — yet rarely having to fire — a gun.

Hospitals report 200,000 deaths per year from improper care and malpractice. Consumer Reports Magazine (May 2017) states 650,000 hospital patients per year acquire an infection and 75,000 die according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Where is the hue and cry for “common-sense hospital regulation”?

Go-cart track good for Hilton Head

Here we go again.

The alarmists have their you-know-what in a wad over a go-cart track using electric go-carts. Talk about noise. These things will fill the air with the BUZZZZZ of “screaming” golf carts. Oh what a tragedy!

Personally, I think this is a great idea. It’s located in a great place, off the beaten path, and will be operated by a business that has proven its ability to operate well within the guidelines. It will add to a great outdoor entertainment complex already in place, and will give our guests and resident families a fun, safe and challenging activity. I look forward to taking my grandsons racing.

One last thing: Lose the “Hilton Head is going to become another Myrtle Beach” tired, old argument once and forever. You have obviously never been to Myrtle Beach because Hilton Head has as much chance of becoming another Myrtle Beach as Amazon has of locating its new facility in New York City. It’s OK for people of all ages to have fun on Hilton Head. A tastefully done, off-the-beaten-path water park wouldn’t be a bad idea either.