The Popcorn Stand: Idea that’s a cut above to make roads safer

This actually sounds like a pretty cool idea to me I think Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong should consider.

Lately, the Appeal has been reporting on the not-so-cool driving habits of some in Carson City and how sometimes drivers and pedestrians in our community aren’t so great about sharing the road.

But Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody in Texas has come up with a unique way of dealing with not-so-cool drivers in his area or at least the speeders anyway. He’s putting cardboard cutouts of officers on the roadways to deter motorists from speeding.

We think a cardboard cutout of a Carson City Sheriff’s deputy standing, say, adjacent to the crosswalk between the Carson City Library and the Carson City Community Center wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Of course, the use of the cardboard cutouts would have to be done on a strategic, temporary and periodic basis, or they would just become something like ineffective scarecrows.

Chody, though, said his cardboard cutouts worked out pretty well after testing them in school zones.

“We didn’t get one speeder; all these people were braking before they got to the cutout or as they were approaching the cutout,” he said.

And think of the ways this unique way of making our roadways safer could be promoted. McGruff the Cutout Cardboard Dog could be quoted as saying “take a cut out of crime.”

And the headline writers could have a field day. “Cutting down” on bad driving or speeding. Unique safe driving program “a cut above.”

As John McKay said once about his team’s execution, if cardboard cutout deputies can make our roads safer, “I’m all for it.”

— Charles Whisnand