COMMUNITY
LIFE IN THE
FAST LANE In a city where cars kill,
some save lives BY BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR.
C CARS. CAN’T LIVE WITH ‘EM, CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT ‘EM. On a good day, it’s your sweet ride. Your whip. Your wheels. “I’m all revved up, living life in the fast lane.” On a bad day, it’s a beater. A bucket. A lemon. “Sorry boss, car troubles again.” If you haven’t been living under a cage full of rocks, you’ll know any given day in Maricopa is probably a bad day. That’s why in the August edition of InMaricopa , we published a story titled: “How State Route 347 ruined this woman’s life.” It feels like every problem in this city ultimately gets tied back to cars, if you trace it back far enough. Road-raging motorists pull guns in the street, reckless drivers abound and people die just trying to get to and from work. Some 115 people move to Maricopa every week, and they come by car, as the stubborn city streets do little to accommodate them. We are a city with two different Facebook groups called “traffic rants,” after all. Maricopa prescribes car crashes like a supermarket multivitamin — one a day. Literally. But amid the lost and ruined lives, the road rage, the missed dance recitals; amid the “Sorry, honey, I’ll be late for dinner again” phone calls in a standstill somewhere near M Mountain, people have come together who otherwise would never cross paths. For those whose cars represent more than getting from point A to point B, their hotrods, old schools and imports are a vehicle for comradery. And October is when they come out of hibernation.
From left: Dennis Rossini, John Marsh, Donna Gradin, Ken Ohnell and Dave Parkin with their cars at a Sept. 10 cruise-in near John Wayne Parkway and Edison Road.
InMaricopa.com | October 2024
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October 2024 | InMaricopa.com
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