COMMENTARY: When did Yield stop meaning Yield?

The small, blue Toyota ahead of me is in a hurry.

The driver — oblivious to everyone except himself — zooms in and out of traffic like a Formula One race car driver on Memorial Day.

I’ve watched him for several minutes and honestly, I’m amazed he’s still alive.

Especially after he exits off I-35 at about 70 miles per hour and blows past a large red and white Yield sign.

He missed the yellow truck by just a few feet.

Granted, Mr. Blue Toyota isn’t alone.

In fact, he’s just one example of an all-too-common problem I call “Nonexistent Yield Signs.”

And it’s getting worse.

Across Oklahoma, in small towns and right here in the Metro, there are hundreds — maybe even thousands — of Yield signs.

They are shaped like a triangle and painted red and white.

And they say, “Yield.”

And I have yet to see a driver obey them.

Seriously, those signs might as well not be there.

Because no one yields.

When I was taking drivers ed, the Yield sign was the metal equivalent of your mother standing there, waving her finger at you.

She was reminding you to be good.

She was telling you to slow down, pause, and look around you as you prepare to enter the highway.

She was not telling you to stomp on the gas, and try to beat the other driver to the end of the road.

But somewhere, somehow along the way the humble Yield sign’s clout began to fade. It no long stands as a warming, a caution. It’s simply being ignored.

And the results are tragic.

If you look at almost any major intersection in the Metro area, you’ll probably find an impromptu monument to the victim of a car wreck. Now you and I both know, the accident victim’s friends or family would not have put those monuments there had the accident victim lived.

Nope. Those little crosses represent someone who died.

And I’ll bet you my copy of Newt Gingrich’s Fun Things to Do When You’re No Longer in Office, that more than half of those victims of accidents ignored Yield signs.

Just two weeks ago, I watched as the driver a of new, pretty silver Mustang blew past a Yield sign and right into the back of slow moving minivan.

The minivan was filled with a family which included several small children. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

But as I drove away — I’d stopped to see if everyone was OK — I overheard the Mustang driver cuss the other driver because the minivan “was moving to slow and causing disruptions in the flow of traffic.”

Bull.

The truth behind the story is simple: The idiot (and that’s the only word that truly describes him) in the Mustang was traveling way too fast and did not bother to Yield.

Mr. Mustang came very close to killing himself and several other people.

Honestly, if public safety officials are not going to enforce the laws surrounding the Yield sign, then all Yield signs should be removed and the motoring public can take its chances.

If, however, Yield signs are to remain, then patrolmen should nail those drivers who cruise through the signs with the same type of penalty for failure to stop or speeding or all those other traffic violations we’ve all come to know and love.

Still, most of the fault remains with the drivers and not the police.

It is up to each and every person who travels the ribbons of highway in this great state to turn off their damned cell phone, unplug their iPod and pay attention to what they are doing.

And that means slowing down at Yield signs.

I know, of all the problems our state faces today, you’re wondering why the issue of “Nonexistent Yield Signs” needs to be addressed.

It’s simple.

Somewhere, sometime soon, you may be driving.

And somewhere some dolt with too much car and too little sense will be out there, too.

And the next monument could be for you.