Brent Batten: Dangerous intersections take many forms

You want a dangerous intersection?

I'll give you a dangerous intersection. The intersection of my kid and anything that could possibly be construed as a weapon. By that I mean any bat, ball, golf club, pencil, crayon, book, pillow, stuffed animal, piece of fruit or article of clothing.

"Daddy, this is a sword."

"No it's not. It's a sock."

"No, it's a sword. Look, ‘My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.'"

"OK, first, the guy from ‘The Princess Bride' had a real sword, not a sock and second ... OW!"

That's a dangerous intersection.

For the past few days the Daily News has presented its analysis of dangerous crossings around Collier and southern Lee counties. The stories involve a detailed examination of traffic and accident records compiled from 2006 through 2008.

As a result, readers have a better idea of where danger lurks for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.

But not all intersections involve two roads.

There are intersections of ideas, crossroads between individuals and circumstances, that can prove dangerous too.

While they don't always lend themselves to the sort of statistical review performed on area highways, some hazards can be intuited by combining common sense and the hard lessons of experience.

While oil and water don't mix, oil and beaches are proving to be a dangerous intersection. Dangerous in the Florida Panhandle, where the combination has dampened tourism and even in Southwest Florida, where businesses are included in a federal economic injury declaration in spite of the fact that oil never made it here.

Another high-risk intersection in town is that of band director and Barron Collier High School.

The last two have been suddenly dismissed. Last week's reassignment of Kelly Parker over "procedural issues" came just before the start of the summer band camp. Based on statistics gathered over the last five years, the per-million crash rate of BCHS band directors is 1,000,000.

One of the most dangerous intersections Southwest Florida experiences every year around this time is that between hurricanes and complacency. It's already August and only two named storms have formed. That can lead to the perception that we're in for a light season. But it only takes one storm, aka Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992, to turn an inactive season into an active one overnight.

Some intersections are so dangerous they can create a stir thousands of miles away. The intersection of a mosque and Ground Zero in New York is one of them. Unlike some intersections in the Daily News analysis, where there are no easy solutions, this one seems pretty simple to solve. Move the mosque a few blocks away.

County commissioners can make for a dangerous intersection, especially if they cross paths in Maine. At least that's the opinion of John Lundin, an opponent of the proposal to use tax money to lure Jackson Laboratory to Collier County. Lundin filed a complaint with the sheriff's office alleging county commissioners Jim Coletta and Donna Fiala broke the state's open government laws by being around each other at a Jackson Lab function in Bar Harbor on July 17.

Unfortunately for Lundin's case, it isn't a Sunshine Law violation for two commissioners to be in the same room or to hear the same information. It's only a violation if they discuss the matter with each other outside of an open public meeting, something the photographs upon which he based his claim don't show. In fact, there's some question as to whether the person in one of the photos is even Fiala.

Apparently it's even dangerous for a county commissioner to intersect with a person who resembles another county commissioner.

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