Having used the X walk on Highway 97 at Vernon Jubilee Hospital three times recently I feel compelled to bring tragedy in waiting to the forefront once again.
I use the letter X as two out the three times it could have been my cross staked at the sidewalk due to northbound traffic still doing highway speed down a steep hill without a flashing pedestrian warning. Not great odds.
The X walk markings are barely visible in daylight let alone when the cover of darkness or snow totally obliterate safety. The overhead sign provides little comfort to warn four lanes of semis and speeders of a crucial situation ahead. I feel sorry for the many already stressed out hospital employees that run the gauntlet to their vehicles on the west side of Highway 97 twice a day.
Highway 97 being an international, provincial and city of Vernon route will probably take all three of our elected officials, Mel Arnold, Eric Foster and Akbul Mund to coordinate action on this long known dangerous situation. Failure to do so prior to another accident puts the blame squarely on their shoulders.
As an example as to how the Feds and Vernon coordinate (not), Commonage Road has two separate single-lane ped-activated flashing crosswalks within 200 feet by the DND grounds, less than a kilometre from the all important hospital. Even Coldstream has activated lights on benign Kidston Road, mostly used by well trained orchard deer.
The best solution is to have flashing lights installed in conjunction with a one-way routing south uphill on 32nd Street and down an easier grade one way north from Watson House to 27th Street. Aside from not having a downhill semi barreling through an obscure X walk, everyone is aware of the need to avoid the Kamloops fiasco that killed five people. Even a simple brake check pullout at the top of Hospital Hill could reduce the possibility of such a disaster.
Rory White and I have been advocating the one-way system for the better part of a decade in Letters to the Editor. I don’t know Rory but I think we could get along. Incidentally Rory, good job on the Stickle Road quagmire, another example of elected/bureaucratic officials ignoring simple solutions.
The second best solution is to build a pedestrian overpass off of the dead end 20th Avenue. Now we all know three levels of government are going to obfusticate over those enormous costs so the third best option is immediately installing simple activated lights that will make a bad situation somewhat better.
Should immediate action be delayed, perhaps a little civil disobedience might save a life. I bet I could get 10 hospital associates to use the X walk every 30 seconds or so. What say you, Akbal, Eric and Mel? How about picking up the phone. Just think, avoiding a couple of lawsuits and most of the construction costs would be paid for.
Jay Langton, Vernon
