this has been a message from the ad council

To the horror and embarassment of the entire state, several years ago a Providence strip club took out a billboard ad above route 95 that greeted travellers heading south from Massachusetts into Rhode Island.  Showing a few scantily clad women, the sign warned, "Dangerous curves ahead."  The joke played on what are popularly known as the "S curves" along 95 through Pawtucket, a series of bends that are far more hazardous than they appear on the map.  I can't say how many accidents I've seen along this stretch over the years.  One memorable icy morning last winter we saw five separate wipeouts or collisions (counting both sides of the highway) and nearly were involved in one of our own.  Last night, another: driving north in the middle lane, I was going fairly slow due to both the turns in the road and the heavy rain.  An SUV decided I wasn't travelling fast enough, and switched lanes to pass on the left.  Just as he got by me, I saw him start to wobble, and I stepped on my brakes.  Sure enough, he spun out into the embankment at left, banging out back into the road ahead of me and twisting into my lane.  Fortunately I had been able to slow down, and he still had enough forward momentum, to allow some distance between us.  I quickly switched to the righthand lane, in which I drove the short distance to my exit, heart pounding all the while.

It was, in fact, almost a mirror image of another accident I witnessed a couple of years back, in which someone - at almost the exact same spot on the road - tried to pass me on the right and lost control before getting by me.  All I heard in that case was the crash, and then saw him in the rear-view mirror smashed against the jersey barriers.  So, please, people: be careful out there.  Don't go too fast, especially on dangerous roads in bad conditions.  If the person in front of you is going slow, wait the 20 seconds until you're on the straightaway before passing.  We want you to get home safe.

. . . Lord, I wish it would stop raining.