Rumble strips save lives

This is a terribly sad time for Hillsborough residents, a great many of whom know the family of Sean Powers and appreciate the tours of duty he and two brothers served in Iraq. Townspeople were stunned to wake up Thursday and learn that Sean, recently returned home safe from combat, had become the latest victim of "Death Alley".
It was a decade ago that the Villager first coined the sadly prophetic name for that deadly stretch of Rt. 9/202 between Hillsborough and I-89. The fatal crashes have piled up in the intervening years, focused largely in the area of the former Golden Pineapple gift store. It is difficult to pinpoint why the crashes occur on a benign looking road, but it is not difficult to assert that strategies need to be developed to prevent further loss of life.
Rumble strips appear to have helped relieve the carnage, but nearby residents have complained about the noise they cause. While repaving the road, rumble strips were removed. In their absence, two more fatal accidents happened.
The debate must end. Rumble strips are at least a partial solution to the carnage and need to be accepted as such.