This past Sunday's paper had a clever article titled "The List: 10 Best Dartmouth Shortcuts".  I get it- people like shortcuts, hacks and any other way to be efficient these days, myself included, so obviously I felt inclined to read it.  Being a resident of Dartmouth for 30+ years, I got partway through the list and didn't read anything I didn't already know.. But then I arrived at Tip #4, an all too familiar shortcut from Route 6 to Slocum Road, and got pretty mad.

4. Route 6 to Slocum Road

This is a trick known to generations of students at Bishop Stang or the old Dartmouth High School on Slocum Road. Basically, drivers can turn off Route 6 between the old McDonald's and Slocum Road on Ryder Street or Carrollton Avenue, then take a left on Robert Street, which leads right to Slocum Road. This decades-old shortcut has helped countless students skip the Route 6/Slocum Road intersection, save some minutes and maybe avoid another late-to-school detention.

The tip lets everyone know that we have a through street that will get you onto Slocum Road going south if you need to get to Stang, Hawthorn Street or anywhere towards the Village. What the tip fails to mention is that this is a thickly settled area- a residential area with people walking dogs, putting trash out on the street, etc.  For years we've watched people take this "shortcut" at 50+ miles an hour, blowing through stop signs and drive into the yards of folks unfortunate enough to live on the intersections corner.  There are better ways to avoid being late to school and getting a detention that don't include racing through a residential neighborhood and flying blindly around corners (one which includes a daycare center who's seen its own share of vehicular accidents).

I know the writer was likely trying to keep his list post short, but adding a line about using caution, obeying the stop signs, or even noting that cars park on both sides of the street creating a blind intersection in 3 directions would have been appreciated.  I'm sure if the writer had a home, lawn, fence, or vehicle at stake, this shortcut may not have made the list. Just wait at the light; you're already late anyway.

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